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IN INDIAN TENTS 



IN INDIAN TENTS 



TOLD BY PENOBSCOT, PASSAMAQUODDY 
AND MICMAC INDIANS 



TO 



ABBY L. ALGER 





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^^^'^0' 


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BOSTON 




BERTS BROTHERS 




1897 




^ 








Copyright, 1897, 
By Roberts Brothers. 



/V- /0/S'Z 



John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. 



IS 

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 

TO 

CHARLES GODFREY LELAND, 

TO WHOSE INSPIRATION ^IT OWES 
ITS ORIGIN. 



PREFACE 

In the summer of 1882 and 1883, I was asso- 
ciated with Charles G. Leland in the collec- 
tion of the material for his book " The Algon- 
quin Legends of New England," published by 
Houghton and Mifflin in 1884. 

I found the work so delightful, that I have 
gone on with it since, whenever I found myself 
in the neighborhood of Indians. The supply 
of legends and tales seems to be endless, one 
supplementing and completing another, so that 
there may be a dozen versions of one tale, 
each containing something new. I have tried, 
in this little book, in every case, to bring these 
various versions into a single whole ; though I 
scarcely hope to give my readers the pleasure 
which I found in hearing them from the Indian 
story-tellers. Only the very old men and 
women remember these stories now ; and though 



Vlll PREFACE 

they know that their legends will soon be 
buried with them, and forgotten, it is no easy 
task to induce them to repeat them. One may 
make half-a-dozen visits, tell his own best 
stories, and exert all his arts of persuasion in 
vain, then stroll hopelessly by some day, to be 
called in to hear some marvellous bit of folk- 
lore. These old people have firm faith in the 
witches, fairies, and giants of whom they tell; 
and any trace of amusement or incredulity would 
meet with quick indignation and reserve. 

Two of these stories have been printed in 
Appleton's *' Popular Science Monthly," and 
are in the English Magazine *' Folk-Lore." 

I am under the deepest obligation to my 
friend, Mrs. Wallace Brown, of Calais, Maine, 
who has generously contributed a number of 
stories from her own collection. 

The woman whose likeness appears on the 
cover of this book was a famous story-teller, 
one of the few nearly pure-blooded Indians in 
the Passamaquoddy tribe. She was over 
eighty-seven when this picture was taken. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

The Creation . n 

Grandfather Thunder 15 

The Fight of the Witches 19 

Uliske 30 

Story of Walut 34 

Old Snowball 44 

Al-wus-ki-ni-gess, the Spirit of the Woods 51 

M'Teulin, the Great Witch 53 

Summer c^y 

The Building of the Boats 61 

The Merman 66 

Story of Sturgeon 72 

Grandfather Kiawakq* yj 

Old Governor John 81 

K'chi Gess'n, the Northwest Wind ... 84 

Big Belly 95 

Chibaloch, the Spirit of the Air .... 99 

Story of Team, the Moose loi 

The Snake and the Porcupine 106 



X CONTENTS 

Page 

Why the Rabbit's Nose is Split . . . . io8 

Story of the Squirrel iii 

Wawbaban, the Northern Lights .... 130 
The Wood Worm's Story, Showing Why the 

Raven's Feathers are Black 134 



IN INDIAN TENTS 



THE CREATION 

In the beginning God made Adam out of the 
earth, but he did not make Glus-kabe (the 
Indian God). Glus-kabe made himself out of 
the dirt that was kicked up in the creation of 
Adam. He rose and walked about, but he 
could not speak until the Lord opened his 
lips. 

God made the earth and the sea, and then he 
took counsel with Glus-kabe concerning them. 
He asked him if it would be better to have the 
rivers run up on one side of the earth and down 
on the other, but Glus-kabe said, '' No, they 
must all run down one way." 

Then the Lord asked him about the ocean, 
whether it would do to have it always lie still. 
Glus-kabe told him, *' No ! " It must rise and 
fall, or else it would grow thick and stagnant. 



12 IN INDIAN TENTS 

*' How about fire?" asked the Lord; ''can 
it burn all the time and nobody put it 
out?" 

Glus-kabe said : " That would not do, for if 
anybody got burned and fire could not be put 
out, they would die ; but if it could be put out, 
then the burn would get well." 

So he answered all the Lord's questions. 

After this, Glus-kabe was out on the ocean 
one day, and the wind blew so hard he could 
not manage his canoe. He had to go back to 
land, and he asked his old grandmother (among 
Indians this title is often only a mark of respect, 
and does not always indicate any blood relation- 
ship), " Mah Moninkwess" (the Woodchuck), 
what he could do. She told him to follow a 
certain road up a mountain. There he found an 
old man sitting on a rock flapping his wings 
(arms) violently. This was " Wuchowsen," the 
great Wind-blower. He begged Glus-kabe to 
take him up higher, where he would have space 
to flap his wings still harder. So Glus-kabe 
lifted him up and carried him a long way. When 
they were over a great lake, he let Wuchowsen 
drop into the water. In falling he broke his 
wings, and lay there helpless. 



THE CREATION 13 

Glus-kabe went back to sea and found the 
ocean as smooth as glass. He enjoyed himself 
greatly for many days, paddling about; but 
finally the water grew stagnant and thick, and a 
great smell arose. The fish died, and Glus-kabe 
could bear it no longer. 

Again he consulted his grandmother, and she 
told him that he must set Wiachowsen free. So 
he once more bore Wuchowsen back to his 
mountain, first making him promise not to flap 
his wings so constantly, but only now and then, 
so that the Indians might go out in their canoes. 
Upon his consent to do this, Glus-kabe mended 
his broken wings ; but they were never quite so 
strong as at first, and thus we do not now have 
such terrible winds as in the olden days. 

This story was told to me by an old man 
whom I had always thought dull and almost in 
his dotage ; but one day, after I had told him 
some Indian legends, his whole face changed, 
he threw back his head, closed his eyes, and 
without the slightest warning or preliminary 
began to relate, almost to chant, this myth in a 
most extraordinary way, which so startled me 
that I could not at the time take any notes of 



14 IN INDIAN TENTS 

it, and was obliged to have it repeated later. 
The account of Wuchowsen was added to show 
the wisdom of Glus-kabe's advice in the earlier 
part of the tale, and is found among many 
tribes. 



GRANDFATHER THUNDER 

During the summer of 1892, at York Harbor, 
Maine, I was in daily communication with a party 
of Penobscot Indians from Oldtown, among 
whom were an old man and woman, from whom 
I got many curious legends. The day after a 
terrible thunderstorm I asked the old woman 
how they had weathered it in their tents. She 
looked searchingly at me and said, " It was 
good." After a moment she added, ** You know 
the thunder is our grandfather ? " I answered 
that I did not know it, and was startled when 
she continued: "Yes, when we hear the first 
roll of the thunder, especially the first thunder 
in the spring, we always go out into the 
open air, build a fire, put a little tobacco on 
it, and give grandfather a smoke. Ever since 
I can remember, my father and my grand- 
father did this, and I shall always do it as long 
as I live. I '11 tell you the story of it and why 
we do so. 



l6 IN INDIAN TENTS 

" Long time ago there were two Indian fami- 
lies living in a very lonely place. This was 
before there were any white people in the land„ 
They lived far apart. Each family had a 
daughter, and these girls were great friends. 
One sultry afternoon in the late spring, one of 
them told her mother she wanted to go to see 
her friend. The mother said : * No, it is not 
right for you to go alone, such a handsome girl 
as you ; you must wait till your father or your 
brother are hepe to go with you.' But the girl 
insisted, and at last her mother yielded and let 
her go. She had not gone far when she met a 
tall, handsome young man, who spoke to her. 
He joined her, and his words were so sweet that 
she noticed nothing and knew not which way 
she went until at last she looked up and found 
herself in a strange place where she had never 
been before. In front of her was a great hole 
in the face of a rock. The young man told her 
that this was his home, and invited her to enter. 
She refused, but he urged until she said that if 
he would go first, she would follow after. He en- 
tered, but when she looked after him she saw that 
he was changed to a fearful, * Wi-will-mecq * 
— a loathly worm. She shrieked, and turned to 



GRANDFATHER THUNDER 1 7 

run away; but at that instant a loud clap of 
thunder was heard, and she knew no more until 
she opened her eyes in a vast room, where sat 
an old man watching her. When he saw that 
she had awaked, he said, * I am your grandfather 
Thunder, and I have saved you.' Leading her 
to the door, he showed her the Wi-will-mecq, 
dead as a log, and chopped into small bits like 
kindling wood. The old man had three sons, 
one named * M'dessun.* He is the baby, and is 
very fierce and cruel. It is he who slays men 
and beasts and destroys property. The other 
two are kind and gentle ; they cool the hot air, 
revive the parched fields and the crops, and 
destroy only that which is harmful to the earth. 
When you hear low, distant mutterings, that is 
the old man. He told the girl that as often as 
spring returned she must think of him, and show 
that she was grateful by giving him a little 
smoke. He then took leave of her and sent her 
home, where her family had mourned her as 
one dead. Since then no Indian has ever feared 
thunder." I said, "But how about the light- 
ning?" " Oh," said the old woman, " Hghtning 
is grandfather's wife." 

Later in the summer, at Jackson, in the White 
2 



1 8 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Mountains, I met Louis Mitchell, for many years 
the Indian member of the Maine Legislature, a 
Passamaquoddy, and asked him about this story. 
He said it was perfectly true, although the cus- 
tom was now falling into disuse; only the old 
people kept it up. The tobacco is cast upon 
the fire in a ring, and draws the electricity, 
which plays above it in a beautiful blue circle 
of flickering flames. He added that it is a 
well-known fact that no Indian and no Indian 
property were ever injured by lightning. 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 

Many, many long years ago, there lived in a 
vast cave in the interior of a great mountain, an 
old man who was a " Kiawakq' m'teoulin," or 
Giant Witch. 

Near the mountain was a big Indian village, 
whose chief was named " Hassagwakq'," or the 
Striped Squirrel. Every few days some of his 
best warriors disappeared mysteriously from the 
tribe, until Hassagwakq at last became con- 
vinced that they were killed by the Giant Witch. 
He therefore called a council of all the most 
mighty magicians among his followers, who 
gathered together in a new strong wigwam 
made for the occasion. There were ten of 
them in all, and their names were as follows : 
"Quabit," the Beaver; '* Moskwe," the Wood 
Worm; " Quagsis," the Fox; " K'tchi At5sis," 
the Big Snake ; ** Agwem," the Loon ; " Kosq," 
the Heron; ''Main," the Bear; '' Lox," the 



20 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Indian Devil ; ** K'tchiplagan," the Eagle ; and 
" Wabe-keloch," the Wild Goose. 

The great chief Hassagwakq' addressed the 
sorcerers, and told them that he hoped they 
might be able to conquer the Giant Witch, and 
that they must do so at once if possible, or else 
their tribe would be exterminated. The sor- 
cerers resolved to begin the battle the very 
next night, and promised to put forth their ut- 
most power to destroy the enemy. 

But the Giant Witch could foretell all his 
troubles by his dreams, and that selfsame night 
he dreamed of all the plans which the fol- 
lowers of Striped Squirrel had. formed for his 
ruin. 

Now all Indian witches have one or more 
" poohegans," or guardian spirits, and the Giant 
Witch at once despatched one of his poohe- 
gans, little " Alumuset," the Humming-bird, to 
the chief Hassagwakq' to say that it was not 
fair to send ten men to fight one; but if he 
would send one magician at a time, he would be 
pleased to meet them. 

The chief replied that the witches should 
meet him in battle one by one ; and the next 
night they gathered together at an appointed 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 21 

place as soon as the sun slept, and agreed that 
Beaver should be the first to fight. 

The Beaver had *' Sogalun," or Rain, for his 
guardian spirit, and he caused a great flood to 
fall and fill up the cave of the Giant Witch, hop- 
ing thus to drown him. But Giant Witch had 
the power to change himself into a " Seguap 
Squ Hm," or Lamprey Eel, and in this shape he 
clung to the side of his cave and so escaped; 
Beaver, thinking that the foe was drowned, 
swam into the cave, and was caught in a 
*' K'pagutihigan," or beaver trap, which Giant 
Witch had purposely set for him. Thus per- 
ished Beaver, the first magician. 

Next to try his strength was Moskwe, the 
Wood Worm, whose poohegan is " Fire." 
Wood Worm told Fire that he would bore a 
hole into the cave that night, and bade him 
enter next day and burn up the foe. He set to 
work, and with his sharp head, by wriggling and 
winding himself like a screw, he soon made a 
deep hole in the mountain side. But Giant 
Witch knew very well what was going on, and 
he sent Humming-bird with a piece of " chu-ga- 
ga-siq'," or punk, to plug up the hole, which he 
did so well that Wood Worm could not make 



22 - IN INDIAN TENTS 

his way back to the open air, and when Fire 
came to execute his orders, the punk blazed 
up and destroyed Moskwe, the Wood Worm. 
Thus perished the second sorcerer. 

Next to fight was K'tchi Atosis, the Big 
Snake, who had '' Amwess," the Bee, for a pro- 
tector. The Bee summoned all his winged fol- 
lowers, and they flew into the cave in a body, 
swarming all over Giant Witch and stinging him 
till he roared with pain ; but he sent Humming- 
bird to gather a quantity of birch bark, which 
he set on fire, making a dense smoke which 
stifled all the bees. 

After waiting some time. Big Snake entered 
the cave to see if the bees had slain the enemy ; 
but he was speedily caught in a dead fall which 
the Witch had prepared for him, and thus per- 
ished the third warrior. 

The great chief, Hassagwakq*, was sore dis- 
tressed at losing three of his mightiest men 
without accomplishing anything, but still, seven 
yet remained. 

Next came Quagsis, the Fox, whose poohe- 
gan was " K'si-nochka," or '' Disease," and he 
commanded to afflict the foe with all manner of 
evils. The Witch was soon covered with boils 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 23 

and sores, and every part of his body was filled 
with aches and pains. But he despatched his 
guardian spirit, the Humming-bird, to " QuiH- 
phirt," the God of medicine, who gave him the 
plant " Ki Kay in-bisun," ^ and as soon as it 
was administered, every ill departed. 

The next to enter the lists was Agwem, the 
Loon, whose poohegan was " K'taiuk," or Cold. 
Soon the mountain was covered with snow and 
ice, the cave was filled with cold blasts of wind, 
frosts split the trees and cracked asunder the 
huge rocks. The Giant Witch suffered horribly, 
but did not yield. He produced his magic stone 
and heated it red-hot, still, so intense was the 
cold that it had no power to help him. 

Aliimuset's wings were frozen, and he could 

1 This plant is much used by an Indian tribe in 
Lower California who are said to live to a great age, one 
hundred and eighty years being no uncommon term of 
life with them. It is not now known to exist among the 
Eastern Indians. It grew like maize, about two feet 
high, and was always in motion, even when boiling in 
the pot. Louis Mitchell's mother, whom I knew well, 
received it from an Indian who wished to marry, and to 
whom she gave in return enough goods to set up house- 
keeping. She divided it with her four sisters, but at 
their death no trace of it was found. It gave him who 
drank it great length of life. 



24 IN INDIAN TENTS 

not fly on any more errands ; but another of the 
master's attendant spirits, " Lituswagan," or 
Thought, went Hke a flash to '* Suwessen," the 
South Wind, and begged his aid. 

The warm South Wind began to blow about 
the mountain, and Cold was driven from the 
scene. 

Next to try his fate was Kosq, the Heron, 
whose guardian spirit was " Chenoo," the giant 
with the heart of ice, who quickly went to work 
with his big stone hatchet, chopped down trees, 
tore up rocks, and began to hew a vast hole in 
the side of the mountain ; but the Giant Witch 
now for the first time let loose his terrible dog 
" M'dassmuss," who barked so loudly and at- 
tacked Chenoo so savagely that he was driven 
thence in alarm. 

The next warrior was Muin, the Bear, whose 
poohegans were " Petagun," or Thunder, and 
'' Pessaquessuk," or Lightning. Soon a tre- 
mendous thunderstorm arose which shook the 
whole mountain, and a thunder-bolt split the 
mouth of the cave in twain; the lightning 
flashed into the cavern and nearly blinded the 
Giant Witch, who now for the first time knew 
what it was to fear. He yelled aloud with pain, 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 2$ 

for he was fearfully burned by the lightning. 
Thunder and Lightning redoubled their fury, 
and filled the place with fire, much alarming the 
foe, who hurriedly bade Humming-bird summon 
'' Haplebembo," the big bull-frog, to his aid. 
Bull-frog appeared, and spat out his huge mouth 
full of water, which nearly filled the cave, 
quenching the fire, and driving away Thunder 
and Lightning. 

Next to fight was Lox, the Indian Devil. 
Now Lox was always a coward, and having 
heard of the misfortunes of his friends, he cut 
off one of his big toes, and when Striped 
Squirrel called him to begin the battle, he 
excused himself, saying that he was lame and 
could not move. 

Next in order came K'tchiplagan, the Eagle, 
whose poohegan was " Aplasumbressit," the 
Whirlwind. When he entered the enemy's 
abode in all his fury and frenzy of noise, the 
Giant Witch awoke from sleep, and instantly 
" K'plamusuke " lost his breath and was unable 
to speak; he signed to Humming-bird to go 
for " Culloo," the lord of all great birds ; but 
the Whirlwind was so strong that the Humming- 
bird could not get out of the cave, being 



26 IN INDIAN TENTS 

beaten back again and again. Therefore the 
Giant Witch bade Thought summon Culloo. 
In an instant the great bird was at his side, 
and made such a strong wind with his wings 
at the mouth of the cave that the power of the 
Whirlwind was destroyed. 

Hassagwakq' now began to despair, for but 
one witch remained to him, and that was 
Wabe-keloch, the Wild Goose, who was very- 
quiet, though a clever fellow, never quarrelling 
with any one, and not regarded as a powerful 
warrior. But the great chief had a dream in 
which he saw a monstrous giant standing at the 
mouth of the enemy's cave. He was so tall that 
he reached from the earth to the sky, and he 
said that all that was needful in order to destroy 
the foe was to let some young woman entice him 
out of his lair, when he would at once lose his 
magic power and might readily be slain. 

The chief repeated this dream to Wabe- 
k^loch, ordering him to obey these wise words. 
Wild Goose's poohegan was " Mikumwess," the 
Indian Puck, a fairy elf, who speedily took the 
shape of a beautiful girl and went to the mouth 
of the cave, where he climbed into a tall hem- 
lock-tree, singing this song as he mounted : 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 2/ 

" Come hither, young man, 
Come list to my song, 
Come forth this lovely night, 
Come forth, for the moon shines bright. 
Come, see the leaves so red, 
Come, breathe the air so pure." 

Giant Witch heard the voice, and coming to 
the mouth of the cave, he was so charmed by 
the music that he stepped out and saw a most 
lovely girl sitting among the branches of a tree. 
She called to him : " W'litt koddm'Uy natchl pen 
equlin wliketnqu' hemus^' — " Please, kind old 
man, help me down from this tree." As soon 
as he approached her, Glus-kabe, the great 
king of men, sprang from behind the tree, threw 
his *'timhegan," his stone hatchet, at him and 
split his head open. Then addressing him, Glus- 
kabe said : ** You have been a wicked witch, 
and have destroyed many of Chief Hassagwakq's 
best warriors. Now speak yet once again and 
tell where you have laid the bones of your vic- 
tims." Giant Witch replied that in the hollow 
of the mountain rested a vast heap of human 
bones, all that remained of what were once the 
mightiest men of Striped Squirrel's tribe. 

He then being dead, Glus-kabe commanded 
all the birds of the air and the beasts of the 



28 IN INDIAN TENTS 

forest to assemble and devour the body of Giant 
Witch. 

This being done, Glus-kabe ordered the beasts 
to go into the cave and bring forth the bones of 
the dead warriors, which they did. He next 
bade the birds take each a bone in his beak and 
pile them together at the village of Hassagwakq'. 

He then directed that chief to build a high 
wall of great stones around the heap of bones, 
to cover them with wood, and make ready 
" equnak'n," or a hot bath. 

Then Glus-kabe set the wood on fire and 
began to sing his magic song; soon he bade 
the people heap more wood upon the fire, and 
pour water on the steaming stones. He sang 
louder and louder, faster and faster, until his 
voice shook the whole village ; and he ordered 
the people to stop their ears lest the strength of 
his voice should kill them. Then he redoubled 
his singing, and the bones began to move with 
the heat, and to sizzle and smoke and give forth 
a strange sound. Then Glus-kabe sang his resur- 
rection song in a low tone ; at last the bones be- 
gan to chant with him ; he threw on more water, 
and the bones came together in their natural order 
and became living human beings once more. 



THE FIGHT OF THE WITCHES 29 

The people were amazed with astonishment 
at Glus-kabe's might; and the great Chief Has- 
sagwakq' gathered together all the neighboring 
tribes and celebrated the marvellous event with 
the resurrection feast, which lasted many days, 
and the tribe of Striped Squirrel was never 
troubled by evil witches forever afterward. 



ULISKE^ 

I WAS sitting on the beach one afternoon with 
old Louisa Flansouay (Frangois) and the other 
Indians, when she suddenly rose with an air of 
great determination, saying to me, *' Come into 
camp and I tell you a story ! " (No story can 
ever be told in the open air ; if the narrator be 
not under cover, evil spirits may easily take 
possession of her.) 

I gladly followed old Louisa, who is a noted 
story-teller, and heard the following brief but 
thrilling tale. 

Many, many years ago a great chief had an 
only daughter who was so handsome that she 
was always known by the name of ^' Uliske," 
which is to say " Beauty." All the young men 
of the tribe sought her hand in marriage, but 
she would have nothing to say to them. Her 
father vainly implored her to make a choice; 

^ C. G. Leland gives a similar story in his " Algonquin 
Legends of New England." 



ULISKE 31 

but she only answered him, " No husband whom 
I could take, would ever be any good to me." 

Every year at a certain season, she wandered 
off by herself and was gone for many days; 
where she went no one could discover, nor 
could she be restrained when the appointed 
time came round. 

At last, however, she yielded to persuasion and 
took a husband. For a time all went well. 
When the season for her absence was at hand, 
she told her husband that she must go. He 
said he would go with her, and as she made no 
objection, they set out on the following morning 
and travelled until they came to a lovely, lonely 
lake. A point of land ran out into the water, 
well wooded and provided with a pleasant wig- 
wam. Here UUske beached the canoe; they 
went ashore and remained for two days and 
nights, when the husband disappeared. Uliske 
in due time returned to her tribe and reported 
his loss. Her father and his followers sought 
long and anxiously, but no trace of him was ever 
found. Later on, Uliske took a second hus- 
band, a third and a fourth, always quietly yield- 
ing to persuasion, and always saying as at first, 
that no husband whom she took could ever be 



32 IN INDIAN TENTS 

any good to her. One after the other visited 
with her the peninsula in the lake and disap- 
peared in the same sudden and mysterious way. 
The fifth husband was known as " U-el-um- 
bek," " the handsome, the brave/* and he made 
up his mind to solve the strange riddle of his 
predecessors. When he and Uliske reached the 
peninsula, he said that, while she got supper, he 
would keep on in the canoe and see what fish 
or game he could find. He went but a little 
way, then drew the canoe up among the bushes 
and searched in every direction till he found a 
well beaten foot-path. " Now I shall know all," 
he said, and hid himself behind a tree. Soon 
Uliske came from the wigwam and went down 
to the water. Undressing herself, and letting 
down her long black hair, she began to beat 
upon the water with a stick and to sing an 
ancient Indian song. As she sang, the water 
began to heave and boil, and coil after coil 
slowly uprose above the surface a huge Wi- 
will-mekq', a loathly worm, its great horns as red 
as fire. It swam ashore and clasped Uliske in 
its scaly folds, wrapping her from head to foot, 
while she caressed it with a look of delight. 
Then U-el-um-bek knew all. The Wi-will- 



ULISKE 33 

mekq' had cast a spell upon Uliske so that to 
her it appeared in the likeness of a beautiful 
young hero. The worm had destroyed her four 
husbands, and, had he not been prudent, would 
have drowned him as well. Waiting until Uliske 
was alone, he returned to the wigwam before 
she had had time to wash off the slimy traces of 
Wi-will-mekq's embraces, and charged her with 
her infatuation. Giving her no time to answer, 
he hurriedly chewed a magic root with which 
he had provided himself, flung it into the lake, 
thus preventing any attack as he crossed the 
water, got into the canoe and paddled away, 
leaving Uliske to her fate, well knowing that as 
she had failed to supply her loathly lover with 
a fresh victim, she must herself become the prey 
of his keen appetite. 

Rejoining his tribe, he frankly told his story. 
Even the chief declared that he had done well, 
and of Uliske nothing more was ever heard. 



STORY OF WALUT 

In old times there were many witches among 
the Indians. Indeed, almost every one was 
more or less of a magician or sorcerer, and it 
was only a question as to whose power was the 
strongest. 

In the days of which I speak, one family 
had been almost exterminated by the spells of 
a famous m'teulin, and only one old woman 
named " M'dew't'len," the Loon, and her infant 
grandson were left alive; and she, fearing lest 
they should meet with th€ same fate, strapped 
the baby on her back upon a board bound to 
her forehead, as was the ancient way, and set 
forth into the wilderness. At night she halted, 
built a wigwam of boughs and bark, and lay 
down, lost in sad thoughts of the future; for 
there was no brave now to hunt and fish for her, 
and she must needs starve and the baby too. 
As she mourned her desolate state, a voice said 
in her ear : " You have a man, a brave man, 



STORY OF WALUT 35 

Walut,^ the mighty warrior ; and all shall be well 
if you will take the beaver skin from your old 
* t'ban-kagan,' 2 spread it on the floor, and place 
the baby on it." This she did, and then fell 
peacefully asleep. When she waked, she saw, 
standing in the middle of the skin, a tall man. 
At first, she was terrified ; but the stranger said, 
" Fear not, ' Nochgemiss,' ^ it is only I ! " and 
truly, as she gazed, she recognized the features 
of the baby whom she had laid upon the beaver 
fur, so few hours before. Even before day 
dawned, he had brought in a huge bear, skinned 
and dressed it. All day he came and went, 
bringing fish and game, great and small, and 
the old woman was glad. 

Next morning, the skin which hung at the 
door of the wigwam was raised, and a girl 
looked in and smiled at Walut His grand- 
mother said, " Follow her not, for she is a witch, 
and would destroy you." The next day and 
the next and so on, for five days, the same thing 
was repeated ; but on the sixth day, the girl not 

1 Magician. 

2 A pack kettle made of birch bark, used by the Indian 
before the days of trunks. I have a toy one a hundred 
years old or more. 

2 Grandmother. 



36 IN INDIAN TENTS 

only lifted the curtain, but she entered in, went 
straight to Walut's sleeping place and began to 
arrange his bed. This done, she drew from her 
bosom " nokoksis," tiny brass kettles, and pro- 
ceeded to cook a meal, — soup, corn and meat, — 
all in perfect silence. Grandmother watched her, 
but said nothing. When the meal was cooked, 
the girl set a birch-bark dish before grandmother 
and Walut, and began to ladle out the soup. Al- 
though the kettle was so small that it seemed 
no bigger than a child's toy, both the dishes 
were filled and plenty then remained. No word 
was said ; but when night came, the girl lay down 
beside Walut and thus, by ancient Indian law, 
became his wife. Their happy life, however, 
was of short duration, for the girl's mother, 
** Tomaque," the Beaver, was a mighty magician, 
and was angry because her daughter had mar- 
ried without her consent. She therefore stole 
her away and deprived her of all memory of her 
husband and the past. Walut was determined 
to recover his bride, and his grandmother, wish- 
ing to help him, took from the old bark ket- 
tle a miniature bow and arrows. These she 
stretched and stretched until they became of 
heroic size. She strung the bow with a strand 



STORY OF WALUT 37 

of her own hair, and gave it to her grandson, 
telling him that no arrow shot from that bow 
could ever miss its mark. She also dressed him 
from head to foot in the garb of an ancient 
warrior, formerly the property of his grand- 
father, as was the bow. She told him that he 
had a long, hard road to go, and many trials to 
overcome ; but he was not afraid. All day he 
travelled, and, at night fall, came to a wigwam in 
which hved an old man. Walut asked him 
where Tomaque might be found. The old man 
answered : " I cannot tell you, my child. You 
must ask my brother who lives farther on. He 
is much older than I, and he may know. To- 
night you can rest here, if you can put up with 
the hardships of my wigwam." Walut accepted 
this offer, and the old man began to heap great 
stones on the fire. It grew hotter and hotter, 
and Walut thought his last hour had come ; but 
he said to himself, '' I can suffer," and he piled 
more stones on the fire, and built a wall of 
them about the wigwam, so that it grew hotter 
than ever, and the old man said, ''Let me 
out, let me out, I am too hot ! " But Walut 
said, " I am cold, I am cold ! " and so he con- 
quered the first magician. 



38 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Next night he came to the home of the 
second brother, who made the same answer to 
his inquiries as the first, and also offered him a 
night's shelter if he could bear the hardships of 
the wigwam. No sooner had Walut accepted 
his offer, than he sat down and bade his guest 
pick the insects from his head and destroy 
them, after the old custom, by cracking them 
between his teeth. Now these insects were 
venomous toads which would blister Walut's 
lips and poison his blood. Luckily he had a 
handful of cranberries in his pocket, and for 
every toad, he bit a cranberry.^ The old man 
was completely deceived, and when he thought 
that his guest had imbibed enough poison to 
destroy him, he bade him desist from his task. 
Thus Walut passed successfully through the 
second trial. On the third day he journeyed 
until he came to the abode of the third brother, 
oldest of all, seemingly just tottering on the 
brink of the grave. Walut again asked for 
Tomaque, and the old man answered : " To- 
morrow, I will tell you. Rest here to-night, if 
you can bear the hardships of my home." As 
they sat by the fire the old man began to rub 

1 This incident occurs in several tales. 



STORY OF WALUT 39 

his knee, and instantly flames of fire darted 
from every side ; but Walut was on his guard, 
and uttered a spell which drew the old man 
slowly, but surely, into the fire which he had 
created, and he perished. " Rub your knee, old 
man," cried Walut, " rub your knee until you 
are tired ! " 

Next morning as he drew the curtain, boom, 
boom, a noise like thunder fell upon his ear. 
It was the drumming of a giant partridge. 
Walut fitted an arrow to his bow and shot the 
bird to the heart, well knowing that it was his 
wife's sister " Kakagus," the Crow, who had 
come to capture him. Towards evening he 
reached a great mountain towering above a 
quiet lake. As he looked, he saw upon the 
summit, his wife, embroidering a garment with 
porcupine quills, for this was where she lived 
with her mother. Catching sight of him, she 
plunged at once into the centre of the moun- 
tain, having no memory of her husband. He, 
however, hid himself, feeling sure that she would 
come forth again, and being determined to 
seize her before she could again disappear. 
Soon indeed he saw her and tried to grasp her, 
but only caught at her long hair. Instantly, 



40 IN INDIAN TENTS 

she drew her knife, cut off her hair, and van- 
ished into the mountain, where her mother 
loudly reprimanded her, saying, "I told you 
never to go outside; you see now that I was 
right. Nothing remains but for you to go in 
search of your hair." Next day, therefore, the 
girl set forth, and on reaching the wigwam of 
the second old man, her grandfather, for all of 
the old men were of her kin, the veil was lifted 
and she knew that it was her husband who had 
sought her and stolen her hair. She at once 
rejoined him ; he restored her long locks, and, 
by his magic power, they again grew upon her 
head and for a year all went well. At the 
end of that time she became the mother of a 
boy, whom she called " Kiuny " the Otter. Soon 
all the game and fish disappeared. Walut went 
out every day, searching the woods and waters 
for many miles around ; but, night after night, 
he came home empty-handed, and starvation 
seemed very near at hand. Then Nochgemiss, 
the Grandmother, warned them that Tomaque 
was bent on revenge, and bade Walut go forth 
and slay her. She armed him with a bone 
spear from the old pack kettle, and he travelled 
to the mountain. It was mid-winter and the 



STORY OF WALUT 4 1 

lake was covered with clear ice. Deep down 
beneath the ice a giant beaver swam to and fro, 
no other than Tomaque herself. Vainly Walut 
plunged his spear into the depths. Again and 
again she evaded him, until, in a fury, he cried, 
*' Your life or mine ! " and at last succeeded in 
striking her ; but so powerful was she that she 
raised him into the air, using the spear in his 
hand as a lever, the other end being deep in her 
side. The result seemed doubtful ; but grand- 
mother, who knew all that was passing, flew to 
her boy's aid and, in the shape of a huge snake, 
Atosis, wound herself about Tomaque, fold upon 
fold, and at last conquered the foe and crushed 
her to death, Walut dealing the final stroke. 

Grandmother hastened home, leaving Walut 
unconscious of the help that she had given 
him, and found Kiuny gasping with fever. His 
mother, well aware of all that had passed, 
through the power of second sight, also knew 
that the baby's illness was caused by Tomaque's 
dying curse. Meantime Walut returned, and 
his grandmother told him that all she could do, 
would be to save him ; that wife and child must 
perish, as indeed they soon did. 

Not long after, in the early morning, a girl 



42 IN INDIAN TENTS 

lifted the skin which hung at the opening of the 
wigwam and looked in. As Walut glanced up 
at her, she fled. He pursued her, but almost 
instantly lost sight of her. Next day, came 
another girl, to whom he also gave chase, also 
in vain. On the third morning, he was more 
successful, because this time the girl was more 
willing to be followed. He tracked her to her 
home, but did not enter, wishing first to consult 
his grandmother. She told him that these were 
the three daughters of " Modawes," or Famine. 
The youngest girl, she said, would be a good 
wife to him ; and she directed him, when she 
came next day, to touch her lightly on the arm. 

The girl came; he pursued her and, fleet- 
footed though she was, he managed to touch 
her before she escaped into her mother's wig- 
wam. Ere long, to her mother's rage and fury, 
but much to the delight of her sisters, a little 
boy was born to her, who, in reality, was Walut 
endowed with this form by his grandmother's 
aid, — no baby, but a strong brave man. 

Now, Modawes was a cannibal, and the ridge- 
pole of her wigwam was strung with cups made 
from the skulls of her victims. Walut, seeing 
these, was at once aware that they were all that 



STORY OF WALUT 43 

was left of those who had fallen prey to the 
witch's horrible appetite. He resolved to slay 
her ; but as her daughters had been very kind 
to him, he wished to spare them, and said to 
himself: " I wish that a snow-white deer would 
pass by ! " Instantly, the white deer moved 
slowly before the door. The three girls sprang 
after it. Walut rose to his full stature ; clad in 
his grandfather's ancient dress, he snatched his 
timhegan from his belt and, with a single blow, 
laid Modawes dead at his feet. He then set 
fire to the wigwam and returned to Grand- 
mother Loon. When the three daughters of 
Modawes gave up their hopeless chase of the 
enchanted deer and came home, no home was 
there, only a black heap of ashes. They 
mourned for their dear baby, whom they nat- 
urally supposed had perished in the flames ; but 
they never again found the path which led to 
Walut's lodge. 



OLD SNOWBALL 

Many years ago an Indian family, consisting of 
an old father and mother, their two sons, and 
their baby grandson were camping in the woods 
for the winter hunt. In the same neighborhood 
lived a horrible old witch and her three daugh- 
ters. This w^itch ate nothing but men's brains 
and skulls. She would pick the bones clean, 
and dry them, and had a long row of such 
trophies all round the upper part of her wig- 
wam, looking like so many snowballs. From 
this she took her name, and was known as old 
Snowball. The girls were very beautiful, and 
set out by turns every evening to ensnare some 
young man for their mother's meal. So it hap- 
pened that soon after the Indian family had 
settled in camp, one twilight, as they sat round 
the fire, a beautiful girl passed by, so charming 
the eldest son, that he set out in pursuit of her 
and never returned, having fallen a prey to 
Snowball. A night or two later, another equally 



OLD SNOWBALL 45 

lovely girl appeared, and the second son, who 
was a widower, and the father of the baby boy, 
started to chase her, with the same result. The 
same fate befell even the old man, and the poor 
old woman was left alone with the baby. She 
was terribly afraid that the witch would get him 
too, and kept him hidden in a great birch-bark 
basket, t'ban-kagan. As he grew older and 
began to talk and run about, he was always 
wishing that he were a grown man, that he 
might help his grandmother, hunt for her and 
fetch in wood for her. At last, the old woman, 
who was something of a magician, told him that 
if he really was so anxious to be big, he might 
lie down that night on the other side of the fire, 
and she would see what could be done. Next 
morning, behold, he was a full grown man. His 
grandmother brought out her husband's pack 
kettle, and gave him all the tools and weapons 
which he needed, stringing his bow with her 
own hair. Thenceforth, he brought in plenty of 
game, and they would have been very happy if 
the old woman had not constantly dreaded the 
appearance of the witch's daughter. At last she 
came, looking more fascinating than ever ; but 
the young man went on with his work, and never 



46 IN INDIAN TENTS 

raised his eyes. Next night, the second daugh- 
ter passed by ; he looked up at her, but that 
was all. The third night, the third daughter, 
youngest and fairest of all, appeared. He 
sprang up to follow her ; but his grandmother 
begged him to stay, or she would kill him as 
she had slain so many of his family. He finally 
consented to wait till another night, and said 
that he would not chase her, but merely follow 
and see where she went. His grandmother wept 
bitterly, but did her best to ward off misfortune, 
by seeing that he took the bow strung with her 
hair, and also a certain small bone from the 
mink, possessed of great magical power. The 
young man soon turned himself into a tiny bird, 
" chukalisq ," and hopped about almost in reach 
of the girl's hand. He seemed so tame that she 
thought she might lay her hand on him, and 
indeed after several attempts she did contrive to 
catch him and put him in her bosom. Then 
she ran home to tell her mother of the lovely 
bird that she had found. "That is no bird," 
said her mother; "just let me look at him." 
She put her hand in her breast, but there was 
nothing there. From that moment she grew 
bigger and bigger, and in due time gave birth to 



OLD SNOWBALL 47 

a fine boy. Her mother wanted to kill the child ; 
but she would not consent, and, for safe keep- 
ing, carried the baby always in an Indian bark 
cradle strapped over her shoulders. Meantime, 
the spell of her beauty held possession of the 
young man, and he could not rest till he saw 
her once more. Turning himself into a deer, 
he sought Snowball's lodge, where he gambolled 
and played about until the three girls ran out to 
see the pretty creature, forgetting the baby who 
had been left behind. The deer led them into 
the forest, and then sped back to the lodge, 
where he found the witch just about to kill the 
child and devour its brains. Taking his spear, 
he at once slew her and, hiding himself, killed 
the two older girls in turn as they returned 
home. When the third daughter appeared, he 
stepped forward and claimed her as his wife. 
** Now," said he, " you must stand aside, for I 
am going to burn up the lodge with the bodies 
of your mother and sisters." She was very un- 
willing, but at last yielded. The old witch was 
loath to die, and rose repeatedly from the flames ; 
but the magic spear was too much for her. 
The young man, with his wife and baby, went 
home to his grandmother, and for a year lived 



48 IN INDIAN TENTS 

very happily. Then the young woman be- 
came sad and silent and, when questioned, said 
that great trouble was at hand, that her aunt, 
who was a powerful sorceress, was coming to 
avenge the murder of her kindred, and she feared 
the consequences. The grandmother made all 
preparations, this time stringing the bow with 
the young woman's hair. Next day the baby 
began to cry, and nothing would quiet him, 
until the old woman thought of giving him her 
husband's bark pack kettle, where some of his 
ancient treasures were still kept. Then the 
baby smiled, and began to turn over the things 
and play with them. Suddenly he laughed 
aloud and cooed for joy and toddled to his 
father with a little bone. " Fool that I am," 
exclaimed the old woman, " how could I forget 
that ! This may save us yet." (It was Luz, the 
ancient resurrection bone of the Jews, and had 
once formed part of the anatomy of one of the 
greatest magicians ever known.) The young 
man bound it to the head of his spear and set 
forth, his grandmother having told him that the 
time had come, and that he must that day kill 
the great Beaver (his wife's aunt), or the whole 
family must perish. He soon came to a great 



OLD SNOWBALL 49 

lake where there was a beaver dam as high as a 
mountain. He could see the big Beaver mov- 
ing about under the ice ; but all his efforts to 
pierce the ice were in vain, it grew thicker and 
thicker under his spear, and rose in great waves. 
He returned at nightfall discouraged, but started 
out again next day, his grandmother tearing 
apart her scarlet bead-wrought legging, and bid- 
ding him fling that on the ice to see if it would 
not break the charm. All day he strove, but 
even the legging was of no avail. Next day he 
took the second legging, and at last succeeded 
in striking his spear through the ice and into the 
enemy, Quabit. Then began a mighty battle, 
Beaver struggling to break the spear or to 
escape, and the young man fighting to retain his 
hold. At home the baby began to scream and 
cry, and the women knew their hero was in dan- 
ger. The grandmother wept as if her boy were 
already dead ; but his wife said, " Fear not, for I 
will help him." She flung a handful of magic 
roots out at the door, and instantly a sheet of 
water lay there, and she was at her husband's 
side. She told him not to loose the spear, 
but to watch well, that she would fight his 
battle. *' If you see me pass under the ice 
4 



50 IN INDIAN TENTS 

before my aunt, all is well ; but if she comes first, 
she has conquered, and we must all perish. I 
shall be all white like snow, while she is jet 
black," The young man stood rooted to the 
spot, while the ice cracked and heaved with 
fearful noises. At last the white beaver passed 
before him under the clear ice, and he knew that 
victory was his. His wife then told him that 
there was still another and a more terrible enemy 
to be conquered before he and his could be safe. 
This triumph too she gained, though at a fear- 
ful cost, for she was never again to see her 
husband, home, or child. The young man went 
back to his grandmother with drooping head, 
and heard how the baby had kept his grand- 
mother informed of the progress of the fight by 
his changing tears and smiles. And that is all 
about it. 



AL-WUS-KI-NI-GESS, THE SPIRIT OF 
THE WOODS 

Seeing a smoke come from the top of a moun- 
tain, the children asked the elders what it was, 
or who could live there, and the fathers told 
them : " That is the home of * Al-wus-ki-ni-gess,' 
a tree-cutter, whose hatchet is made of stone. 
He throws it from him; it cuts the tree and 
returns to its master's hand at each blow. One 
stroke of his hatchet will fell the largest tree. 
No one ever saw him save Glus-kabe, who often 
goes to the cave to visit him. He is a harmless 
creature, and only fights when ordered to do so 
by Glus-kabe. He lives in that mountain, on 
deer, moose, or any meat he can kill. Some- 
times he goes out to sea with Glus-kabe, to 
catch ' K'chi butep,' the Great Whale. 

" Al-wiis-ki-ni-gess and * Kiawahq' ' once had 
a big fight, which lasted for two days. Kiawahq' 
put forth all his power to conquer, but failed. 
He uprooted huge trees, expecting them to 



52 IN INDIAN TENTS 

fall and crush his rival in strength; but Al- 
wus-ki-ni-gess would hurl his hatchet and split 
the tree asunder. Kiawahq' strove to drag 
him into the sea, but the wood spirit is as strong 
in the water as on land, to say nothing of the fact 
that when he is in the water, * K'chiqui- 
nocktsh,' the Turtle, comes to his aid. Once 
Kiawahq' got his foe between two great trees 
and felt sure he could slay him as they fell. 
Al-wus-ki-ni-gess seized his axe and struck 
the trees which fell. The wind caused by their 
fall was so mighty that it left Kiawahq' faint 
and exhausted. He was forced to beg for 
quarter, and promised his enemy that if he 
would spare his life, he would give him a stone 
wigwam and be his good friend forever. So the 
wood spirit had mercy and accepted his offer. 
That is how he got that cave where he still lives." 
This was the answer of the elders to their 
children's question. 



MTEULIN, THE GREAT WITCH 

In a certain place, alone by herself, lived an old 
woman whom none dared to approach, for she 
had bewitched many Indians. 

In the spring of the year when the men came 
back from their long winter hunting for furs, 
they would gather together and build what they 
called equ'nak'n, ^ hot-baths, to drive off their 
diseases. They would enter the hut, and heat it 
red-hot until it would almost roast them. They 
would strip off their clothes, and dance and sing 
songs to drive off disease. 

Once before the performance ended, they 
were amazed to see a woman among such a 
crowd of men ; but they feared to speak to her. 
One young man laughed when she threw off her 
clothes. This angered her, and she said : ** You 
laugh at me now; but I will send a flood to 
destroy you." Then she left the hut. 

1 Stones were heated in a fire on the ground, when 
red-hot, cold water was thrown on them to make a steam. 



54 IN INDIAN TENTS 

After a time, the youth who had laughed, 
said, " Hark ! " 

All stopped to listen, and they heard the 
rush of water, and knew the witch had kept her 
word, — the flood was upon them. But the 
young man was something of a sorcerer too, 
and had a rattlesnake for poohegan, or messen- 
ger (all witches have at least one poohegan). 

He instantly changed all his comrades into 
beaver and fish. 

"Ha! ha!" laughed " Copcomus," Little 
One, for such was the youth's name. "You 
cannot finish your work, old witch. I will be 
avenged on you yet. I will pray Glus-kabe to 
follow and kill you." 

They all swam out of the equ'nak'n, and when 
the water ceased to flow, Copcomus went along 
the stream and saw a large number of beaver 
building a house like equ'nak'n, so he changed 
them all back to Indians again. They were 
very glad, and thanked him heartily. 

" Now," said Copcomus, " we must hold a 
council at once and decide what to do with the 
old witch, for she will try to destroy us yet." 

Some said, " We will burn her wigwam ; " 
one said : " No, she would know of our coming 



MTEULIN, THE GREAT WITCH 55 

and turn us into some evil thing ! " Another 
said his idea was to persuade the great bird, 
VVuchowsen, Wind, to move his wings harder 
and faster, thus causing '* Uptossem," the Whirl- 
wind, to destroy her ; but Copcomus said : 
" I will see to-night what is best." (Witches 
always see in their sleep how their enemies may 
be destroyed). 

The old woman too saw in her sleep that 
Copcomus was plotting to kill her; so she 
sent her messenger, the Humming-bird, to bid 
Wuchowsen not to move his wings faster than 
usual. 

Copcomus cried to his poohegan : " Go, creep 
into her wigwam and bite the old witch ; " and 
he tied cedar bark about the snake's rattle, that 
it might make no noise. 

The snake went by night, glided in and bit the 
old woman's big toe. The pain waked her, and 
her toe swelled rapidly. She sent the Humming- 
bird to seek Al-wiis-ki-ni-gess, the Wood Spirit. 

The bird flew to the cave in the mountain, and 
when Al-wus-ki-ni-gess asked : " How now, little 
bird ? " the bird replied : " The Great Witch bids 
you come with your hatchet without delay." 
So the Spirit lit his pipe and set forth. When 



56 IN INDIAN TENTS 

he reached his journey*s end, he found the 
witch moaning with pain. " What is the matter, 
* Mookmee ' [Grandma] ? " he asked. 

Her only reply was : " Cut off my toe at 
once." 

He raised his axe, but K'chiquinocktsh, the 
Turtle, Glus-kabe's uncle, who had been sent by 
Glus-kabe to help Copcomus, jogged his elbow 
and the hatchet cut off her leg. 

Next day Copcomus said to his men: "We 
must go and implore Glus-kabe to conquer the 
witch. No one else can do it." So they 
besought the mighty Master to help them. He 
laughed aloud, and said : '* What ! all these 
strong men with warclubs, spears, and bows, to 
slay one poor old woman ! Why, my uncle 
could do the work single-handed." 

" She must die," said Copcomus ; *' we will 
send your uncle, the Turtle, and let him do the 
work single-handed." 

So the Turtle set forth once more ; but as he 
is a slow traveller, it took him two days to reach 
the witch's home. " What is the matter. Grand- 
ma? " he asked. " Alas ! " she cried, " Al-wus- 
ki-ni-gess has killed me ! " 

Turtle then drew his hunting-knife and fin- 
ished her. 



SUMMER 

There lived near " Kisus," the Sun, a beautiful 
woman named " Niffon," Summer. She dressed 
in green leaves, and her wigwam was decked 
with leaves and flowers of many different sorts. 
Her grandmother, Sogalun, Rain, lived far 
away, but when she visited her granddaughter, 
she always warned her never to go near '* Let-o- 
gus-nuk," the North, where her worst enemy, 
** Bovin," Winter, lived, saying : '' If you do go, 
you will lose all your beauty, your dress will 
fade, your hair will turn gray, and your strength 
will leave you." 

But Niffon paid no heed to her grand- 
mother's warning. One fine morning as she sat 
in her wigwam gazing northward, and saw no 
signs of Bovin, — the sun was shining and 
she could see for a long distance, — a beautiful 
region lay stretched before her, broad rivers, 
and lakes, and high mountains, — something 
within her bade her go forth to see that strange 



58 IN INDIAN TENTS 

country; so she started on her long journey. 
She knew that her grandmother could not see 
her, and though she seemed to hear her say : 
"Do not go near your enemy; he will surely 
slay you," she did not heed it, but journeyed on 
and on. The mountains and lakes seemed far 
away ; but she did not lose heart. Looking back, 
she could see nothing of her own lovely home. 
The bright sun overhead was the only thing not 
new and strange to her. She felt a vague sadness 
and distress ; and when once more a voice mur- 
mured : " Do not go, my daughter," she resolved 
to turn back, but it was too late. Some un- 
seen power now forced her towards the north. 
Still the mountains and lakes were as far away 
as ever ; her dress was beginning to fade ; her 
long hair had turned gray; her strength was 
failing fast; the sun, too, had lost his power; 
and, as she neared her journey's end, she saw 
that the mountains were but heaps of snow, the 
beautiful lakes but fields of ice. 

Meantime her grandmother, seeing no smoke 
rise from Niffon's wigwam, grew alarmed and 
concluded to visit her. When she got there, 
she found the wigwam empty, the green boughs 
on the floor withered and dry, and the leaves 



SUMMER 59 

faded. ** Oh, my poor grandchild is in the 
clutches of Bovin," she cried, and summoned 
her bravest warriors, '' Suwessen," the South 
Wind, " Hy-chi," the East Wind, and '' Snote- 
seg-du," the West Wind, and bade them hasten 
northward and fight Hke devils to save Niffon. 

These invisible warriors started on their 
journey, and as they did so, Bovin felt that 
something was wrong, and ordered his braves, 
" Letu-gessen," North Wind, and *' K-lke- 
gessen," Northeast Wind, to hurry southwards 
and meet the foe. 

Sweat began to pour from Bovin's every limb, 
his nose grew thin, and his feet shrivelled 
away. Another day and the giants met ; large 
flakes of snow mixed with raindrops flew in 
every direction ; sharp gusts of contrary winds 
were heard. The drops of sweat on Bovin s 
brow grew larger and larger. By this time, the 
hair on Niffon's head was snow white and her 
dress tattered and faded. 

The roar of the wind grew ever louder and 
sharper ; the snow and rain fell faster and thicker ; 
at last Bovin fell from his place and broke one 
of his legs, and Niffon knew her enemy was 
conquered. 



60 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Bovin bade one of his warriors tell Niffon to 
depart; he will harm her no more. 

Then she turned again towards her own coun- 
try, her beauty all gone, an old old woman. 

Many hours pass; by degrees, as she 
travels her strength returns, she moves faster, 
and, as the air grows warmer and softer, she 
feels happier and begins to look young again ; 
her hair returns to its natural color, her dress 
is green once more. She sees the lakes and 
rivers shining; but it will still be many days 
before she reaches her wigwam, and she must 
meet her grandmother before she sees her dear 
home. 

At last the air was warm, the clouds grew dark, 
the rain began to fall, and the wind blew fiercely ; 
amidst the darkest clouds she saw a large wig- 
wam ; she entered and found her grandmother 
reclining on a bed of skins, so changed that she 
hardly knew her. 

The old woman looked up and said : *' My 
child, you have nearly caused my death. I 
have lost all my power through your disobedi- 
ence. I can never help you in your future wars. 
My great fight with Bovin has taken all my 
strength ; go and never depend upon me more." 



THE BUILDING OF THE BOATS ^ 

When the water was first made, all the birds 
and the fowl came together to decide who 
should make their canoes for them, so that they 
might venture out upon the water. 

The Owl proposed that the Loon should do 
the work ; but the Black Duck said : ** Loon 
cannot make canoes; his legs are set too far 
behind. Let the Owl make them." 

Then the Loon said : ** The Owl cannot make 
canoes ; his eyes are too big. He can't work in 
the day-time for the sun would put out his eyes/' 

Then the Duck laughed and made fun of the 
Owl. This made the Owl angry, and he said 
to Black Duck: *'You ought to be ashamed 
of your laugh; it sounds like the laugh of 
* Kettagus,' ^ quack, quack, quack." 

Then all the fowls laughed aloud at the Duck. 

1 A different version of this story is given in C. G. 
Leland's " Algonquin Legends of New England," Hough- 
ton & Mifflin, Boston, 1884. 

^ Red-headed duck. 



62 IN INDIAN TENTS 

The Owl said : " Let ' Sips ' [the Wood Duck] 
build our boats." 

'' How can he build canoes," cried all the rest, 
"with his small neck? " 

** He is too weak," said the Loon. 

The birds were quite discouraged ; but they 
liked the looks of the water very much. At 
last " Kosq'," the Crane, spoke : *' My friends, 
we cannot stay here much longer. I am very 
hungry already. Let us draw lots, and who- 
eyer draws the lot with a canoe marked on it 
shall be the builder of boats." 

All were satisfied with this suggestion, and the 
Raven was appointed to prepare the lots; but 
the Owl objected, saying: "He is a thief; I 
know he is." 

" Well," said the Night Hawk, " let us get 
Flying Squirrel to make them." 

" But Flying Squirrel is not here." 

" Well, let some one go for him." 

" Well, let us get Fox to go for him," said the 
Loon. 

" Oh ! I can't trust the Fox to go," said the 
Owl ; " for he would eat Squirrel on the way. 
Just let me give you a word of advice. Let 
Afiguessis [Little Mouse] go for the Squirrel." 



THE BUILDING OF THE BOATS 63 

" Yes," said K'chiplagan, Eagle, the great 
chief, " we must do as he proposes. Come, 
Afiguessis, you must go for the Flying Squir- 
rel." 

When they saw the Squirrel coming, all cried : 
" Room ! Make room for him ! " 

Then the Squirrel stood up before the chief 
and asked : " What can I do for you, my 
friends?" 

Eagle told him that they wanted him to make 
a picture of a canoe on birch bark with his 
teeth ; to make many more pieces all alike ; then 
to put them in his " miknakq," ^ and let each 
bird take one. " Whoever gets the piece with 
the canoe on it, shall make our canoes." 

The Squirrel went at once and stripped the 
bark from a birch-tree, prepared the lots, and 
put them in his pouch, 

*' Who takes the first?" asked the Owl. 

"Let 'Mid-dessen' [Black Duck] take the 
first," said the chief. 

Mid-dessen stepped forward, and came back 
with a piece of bark in his bill. So each one 
went in his turn, and the lot fell to the Partridge. 

Now the Partridge is always low-spirited and 
^ Leather pouch. 



64 IN INDIAN TENTS 

hardly ever speaks a word ; and this set all the 
other birds in an uproar, and they all sang songs, 
each after his own fashion, and they decided to 
have a great feast. 

** Get the horn," said the chief When it was 
brought, he gave it to Sips, the '' mu-ta-quessit," 
or dance-singer ; then the big dance began, and 
it lasted for many days. 

When the feast was over, the chief said: 
" Now, Partridge, you must make the canoes, 
sound and good, and all alike. Cheat no one, 
but do your work well." 

The first one made had a very flat bottom ; 
this he gave to the Loon, who liked it much. 
The next, flat bottomed too, was for Black Duck ; 
then one for Wabekeloch, the Wild Goose. 
This was not so flat. 

Another was for Crane. It was very round. 
The Crane did not Hke his boat, and said to 
Eagle : " This canoe does not suit me. I would 
rather wade than sit in a canoe." 

The Partridge made canoes for all the birds, 
some large, some small, to suit their various 
size and weight. At last his work was done. 
" Now," said he to himself, '' I must make my- 
self a better canoe than any of the rest." So 



THE BUILDING OF THE BOATS 65 

he made it long and sharp, with round bottom, 
thinking it would swim very fast. 

When it was finished, he put it in the water ; 
but, alas, it would not float; it upset in spite of 
all that he could do. He saw all his neighbors 
sailing over the water, and he fled to the woods 
determined to build himself a canoe. 

He has been drumming away at it ever since, 
but it is not finished yet. 



THE MERMAN 

In a large wigwam, at the bottom of the sea, 
lived " Hapodamquen," the merman. He had 
two sons and three daughters. The elder son 
" Psess'mbemetwigit," Flying Star, was very 
brilliant and held a lofty position; while the 
younger " Hess," the Clam, was the laziest and 
slowest of the family. 

The daughters were named *'T'sak," Lob- 
ster, " Hanaguess," Flounder, and *' Wab^-ha- 
keq'," White Seal. 

Every morning the old man gave orders to 
his children as to where they should go, and 
what they should do, warning them against his 
two mighty enemies, " Lampeguen," another 
species of Merman, and Water Witch. 

One day as they were about to go hunting. 
Flying Star told his brother of a fearful dream 
that he had had the night before. He dreamed 
that he and his brother were in a large stone 
canoe, moving swiftly towards the steep running 



THE MERMAN 6/ 

water (falls), when the canoe turned over, and 
they both went to the bottom of this great 
'' Cobscuk," cataract. They were surrounded by 
singular beings, whose chief took a '' wus-ap-guk" 
(rawhide), and tied their arms and legs to- 
gether, then carried them to a strange village, 
where his warriors held council as to what 
should be done with the sons of Hapodam- 
quen. It was decided to kill them at once, as 
the best means to destroy the foe, for with- 
out Flying Star, Hapodamquen must surely 
starve. They decided that the older son should 
be slain by *' M'dasmiis " (a mythical dog, very 
large and fierce), and the younger by a war club. 
Just as they loosed M'dasmus, Flying Star 
awoke. 

Upon hearing this dream, Hess at once re- 
peated it to his father. 

Old Hapodamquen knew at once that 
" Aglofemma," the chief of the " Lampegwin- 
osis," was about to attack him. He told his 
children to watch well, and stand their ground 
as long as a breath of life remained. To each 
he gave careful directions : Flying Star was to 
take up his position in the clouds, and thence 
watch the sea; if he saw any strange commo- 



6S IN INDIAN TENTS 

tion, or heard any strange noise, he was to fly 
from the clouds to the sea, and kill everything 
that rose to the surface. 

Hess, the Clam, was to post himself in the 
, mud at the bottom of the sea, and was told that 
Hapodamquen would leave his pipe in the 
north side of the wigwam. If the contents of 
the pipe were undisturbed, his children might 
know that he still lived ; but if the " nespe-quom- 
kil," willow tobacco, were gone, and the pipe 
was partly filled with blood, they might know 
that he was dead. 

'* Go, Hess," the old man commanded, " bury 
yourself in the mud, five lengths of your body, 
and listen well. You will surely hear when the 
battle begins. Do not try to escape, or you will 
perish." 

T'sak, the Lobster, was to take up her sta- 
tion half-way between the surface and the bot- 
tom, and was cautioned not to rise to the surface 
at any time. 

Hanaguess, the Flounder, was ordered to come 
to the surface, where she was to watch and follow 
the little bubbles ; for when her father left his 
wigwam, the bubbles would rise to the top of 
the water. 



THE MERMAN 69 

Wabe-hakeq', the White Seal, was the bravest 
and brightest of the Hapodamquen family ; she 
was to accompany her father to the land of 
the Lampegwinosis. 

The old man knew that only the chief and a 
handful of men would be in the village ; the 
fiercest warriors would be lying in ambush for 
his two sons at the falls, where Flying Star and 
Clam always went to spear eel. If Hess had 
failed to tell his father of Flying Star's fateful 
dream, even now they would both be suffering 
torture at the hands of the foe. As it was, the 
old man and his brave daughter would attack 
the village by night, while the enemy slept and 
dreamed of battle and war. 

Hap5damquen always wore his hair very 
long, streaming behind him three times the 
length of his body. As they neared the village, 
he felt something heavy clinging to his hair, — 
it was tiny beings, as small as the smallest in- 
sect, the poohegans, or guardian spirits, of the 
chief of the Lampegwinosis, little witches who 
tried by their combined weight to lessen the old 
man's speed, so that they might gain time to 
warn their master of the enemy's approach. 

The Lampegwinosis were taken entirely by sur- 



JO IN INDIAN TENTS 

prise ; the strongest men were away, only the 
old and weak were at home. The great army 
of Hapodamquen, composed of all the lobsters, 
seals, flounders, and clams, was at hand, and the 
battle began. It was a fearful fight, lasting 
for two days and nights. The Lampegwinosis 
chief tried to escape to the surface; but the 
waves rose mountain high, and he was always 
driven back by the watchful Flounder. 

Flying Star slew all those warriors who 
reached the surface ; while White Seal attacked 
the tiny witches, putting forth all her magic 
power before she succeeded in subduing them. 
Then she went to her father's aid. He was al- 
most exhausted ; but she directed her sister, the 
Lobster, to bite the hostile chief in his tender- 
est part, and hang to him until the White Seal 
could put an end to him. T'sak held on, and 
White Seal killed the foe with one blow of her 
battle-axe. This ended the conflict. 

Hess remained in the mud, where, from time to 
time, he heard his father encouraging his men. 
When all was still once more, he crawled out 
and went to his father's wigwam. He was so 
glad to find the pipe undisturbed, that he sang a 
song of peace. 



THE MERMAN 7 1 

Hapodamquen ordered his warriors to return 
to their homes until he should again summon 
them ; and he went back to his wigwam, where 
he found his lazy son, Clam, still singing. 

All the bubbles and foam had vanished from 
the sea. Flying Star and Flounder, coming 
home, found their father happy, though badly 
hurt, for he had lost all his beautiful hair in the 
fight. 

As the Lampegwinosis braves wended their 
disco'rsolate way back from the falls, they saw 
their old Chief-with-feathers-on-his-head borne 
off by an animal resembling an otter, whom 
they recognized as Hakeq', the brave daughter 
of Hapodamquen. They moaned for their 
chief; but Hapodamquen still lives to destroy 
little children who disobey their mother by go- 
ing near the water. 



STORY OF STURGEON 

" This story," said old Louisa, '' is from 'way, 
Vay back, ever so long ago ; " and indeed it 
seemed to me that it was so old that only frag- 
ments of it remained ; but I give it as best I can. 

Many, many years ago there were three 
tribes of Indians living not far apart: the 
Crows, Ka-ka-gus, the Sturgeons " Ha-bah-so," 
and the Minks, '' Mus-bes-so." These tribes 
were all at war, one with the other, and the 
Minks, being very crafty and cunning, as well as 
brave, at last conquered the other tribes, and 
drove them forth in opposite directions. 

Now the followers of Ka-ka-gus found their 
way to a dry and desert region where they died 
of hunger and thirst; the tribe of Ha-bah-so 
found plenty of food, but were overtaken by a 
pestilence which destroyed all but the old chief 
and his grandson. Meantime, the Minks found 
that the game had been expelled with the enemy, 
and they suffered greatly from hunger. 



STORY OF STURGEON 73 

Old Sturgeon, as I said, had enough and 
more than enough to eat. He and his grand- 
son built an *' agonal," a storehouse of the old 
style, which they filled to overflowing with 
smoked fish and dried meat. 

Mink, hearing of this, sent a messenger to in- 
vestigate. He was well received, and fed with 
the best. The Mink himself determined to pay 
the old man a visit, knowing that enemy though 
he was, he would be kindly treated while a 
guest, according to Indian etiquette. He asked 
Sturgeon where he got all his supplies, and was 
told that they came from the far north. Then 
he said, ''Are you alone here?" "Yes," said 
Ha-bah-so, " except my grandson; "pointing to 
a huge Sturgeon who lay flopping by the fire. 

Next day when Mus-bes-so left, he was loaded 
with as much meat as he could carry. When 
he got home, he told his story, and suggested to 
his five daughters that one of them should 
marry Sturgeon's grandson, who would keep 
them in plenty for the rest of their lives. So 
the girls set out to visit the enemy in turn, and 
each returned saying, " I would not think of 
marrying that monster. If ever I marry, I shall 
choose a man, and not a fish, for a husband." 



74 IN INDIAN TENTS 

So it went until it came to the youngest girl. 
She entered Sturgeon's wigwam and, without a 
word, made herself at home, began to arrange 
the bed and cook the food. When night fell, 
and she did not return, her father rejoiced, for 
he knew she had married young Sturgeon. 

She, meantime, had waked at night to find a 
handsome youth beside her, who, with the first 
rays of daylight, again became a fish. They 
were very happy together and knew no care. 
Every morning she found a supply of the 
choicest game or fish at the door, and in due 
time she became the mother of a lovely boy. 

Her husband proposed to visit her family to 
exhibit this new treasure, to which she gladly 
acceded. He told her that there was but one 
difficulty ; namely, that she would have to carry 
him as well as the baby. She made no objec- 
tion, and they set forth. When they were 
almost in sight of the Mink village, the young 
man was turned to a big Sturgeon, which his 
wife shouldered, taking the baby in her arms. 

The old Minks were delighted to see her ; but 
the sisters laughed and sneered at Sturgeon, and 
despised their sister for being willing to accept 
such a husband. They were very glad, never- 



STORY OF STURGEON 75 

theiess, to accept the supplies of food which 
he provided every day; and their contempt 
was turned to envy when they awaked one 
night and saw him in his human form. They 
then began to plot how they might kill their 
sister and take her place ; but Sturgeon, learn- 
ing their plans, comforted his distressed wife, 
promising to punish her wicked sisters, whom 
he did indeed turn into turtles, in which condi- 
tion they led a moist and disagreeable life. 

After this, he felt that it was time for him 
to go ; so he furnished his father-in-law with 
enough provisions to last a year, and set forth 
on his return journey with his wife and son. 

Before they had gone far, they saw in the 
distance Kosq', the Heron, coming towards 
them. Now Kosq' had been a suitor of Mis- 
tress Mink before she married Sturgeon, and the 
latter knew him to be bent on vengeance. He 
told his wife that she must help him, for Kosq' 
had great power, and it would not be easy to 
overcome him. Together they built a circular 
wigwam, in which they shut themselves, Kosq' 
prowling about outside, each determined not to 
stir from the spot until the other yielded to 
starvation. 



"J^ IN INDIAN TENTS 

Mistress Mink dug in the earth at one side of 
the wigwam, the bed being on the other side, | 

and the fire-place in the middle. She dug until 
a stream of water flowed forth which not only 
gave them drink, but which contained various 
insects and small creatures which satisfied their 
hunger. 

Kosq' outside dug with his long bill and found 
little or nothing, this inner stream attracting all 
upon which he otherwise might have fed. So 
he flew thither and thither, weaker and weaker, 
and ever and again he cried to Ha-bah-so : 
*'Will you give up, now?" "No, no," was the 
reply ; '' I am strong and well." 

Finally, poor Kosq', determined not to yield, 
died of sheer hunger, and Ha-bah-so, with his 
brave wife and child, came from the wigwam, 
went back to their old grandfather, and in time 
built up a village. 



GRANDFATHER KIAWAKQ' 

As I was sitting with old Louisa I showed 
her an African amulet which I was wearing, 
made of pure jade, inscribed with cabalistic 
characters to ward off the evil eye. Thinking 
to make it clear to her Indian understanding, I 
told her that it was to keep off m'teulin, sor- 
cerers, and kiawakq' (legendary giants with 
hearts of ice, and possessed of cannibalistic 
tastes). She looked very grave, and told me 
that I did well to wear it, for there were a 
great many kiawakq' in the region of York 
Harbor where we were ; it was a famous place 
for them, although they usually chose a colder 
place, somewhere far away, where it was winter 
almost all the year. This subject once started, 
she went on to tell me of an adventure of her 
father. 

Years ago when he was first married, and had 
but one child, a boy about two years old, it was 
his habit to go with his family, in a canoe, in 



78 IN INDIAN TENTS 

the late autumn, and camp out far up north in 
Canada, in search of furs and skins for purposes 
of trade. He would build a large comfortable 
wigwam in some convenient place, and stay all 
winter. One year, while hunting, he came 
across a deep footprint in the snow, three or 
four times as large as that of any man. He 
knew it was the track of a kiawakq', and in terror 
retraced his steps, and thenceforth carefully 
avoided going in that direction. In spite of 
this precaution, however, the creature scented 
him out ; for while he was away from the lodge, 
a huge monster entered, stooping low to enter, 
and making himself much smaller than his 
natural size, as such creatures have the power 
to do. The poor woman, alone there with her 
child, knew him for what he was, and knew that 
her only hope of escape lay in hiding her fear, 
so she addressed him as her father, and offered 
him a seat, telling the little boy to go and 
speak to his grandfather. She cooked food for 
kiawakq', warmed him, and paid him every at- 
tention. When her husband returned, she said 
to him that her father had come to visit them, 
and he, too, welcomed the monster, who re- 
mained with them all winter, going out to hunt, 



GRANDFATHER KIAWAKQ' 79 

and bringing back moose, bear, and other big 
game, which the man dressed for him. He 
seldom spoke; but she often saw him look 
greedily at the baby, and sometimes he would 
put one of the boy's fingers in his mouth, as if 
he could not resist the temptation to bite off the 
dainty morsel ; but he always let the little fellow 
go unharmed at last. It was no use for the 
family to think of escape, as he could so easily 
have overtaken them; and, if angered, they 
knew that he would destroy them. 

Towards spring he told them that the 
time had come for them to go. He said that 
his little finger told him that another and 
mightier kiawakq' ^ was on his way to fight with 
him. " You have been good to me," he said, 
" and I wish to save you. If my enemy con- 
quers me, he will destroy you ; so you must go 
now, before he sees you. If I live, I will come 
to your village." 

So the man with his wife and child got into 
the canoe and paddled away. After a while 
they heard the other kiawakq' coming afar off, 
for he tore up great trees as he came and fiung 

1 A kiawakq's little finger possesses the power of 
speech, and always warns him of approaching danger. 



80 IN INDIAN TENTS 

them about like straws, and uttered terrible 
roars. Then they heard the noise of the awful 
fight; but fear lent speed to their canoe, and 
they at last lost all sound of the dreadful 
kiawakq'. 

They never saw their big friend again, and 
therefore felt sure that he had perished ; but 
they never dared to go back to that camping 
ground again. 

" So you see," said Louisa, " that the kiawakq* 
really saved the life of my family." ^ 

* C. G. Leland gives similar stories in his "Algon- 
quin Legends of New England." 



OLD GOVERNOR JOHN 

All summer I had not succeeded in coaxing a 
single story out of Louisa ; but last week she 
said, "You come Sunday, I tell you a story." 
This seemed to be because I told her I was 
going away. Sunday, when I took my seat in 
the tent, she said, looking very hard at me, 
" This is a true story ; it is about her great, great 
grandfather," ^ pointing to her daughter Susan, 
" Old Governor John Neptune. He was a 
witch." I had often heard from other Indians 
tales of old Governor Neptune's magic powers. 
'' He was such a witch that all the other witches 
(m'teulin) were jealous of him, and they tried 
to beat him. He fell sick, and he could not lift 
his head ; so he said to his oldest daughter (he 
had three daughters), * Give me some of your 
hair.' She did so, and he bound his arrowheads 
and spear with it, and strung his bow with the 

^ See also C. G. Leland's "Algonquin Legends of 
New England," Houghton & Mifflin, for similar stories. 
6 



S2 IN INDIAN TENTS 

long, strong black hair. Pretty soon the earth 
began to heave and rock under him. His 
daughter told him of it, and he took his spear 
and stuck it into the ground just where it was 
beginning to break. He thrust it in so deep 
that his arm went into the earth up to the elbow, 
and when he drew it out the iron was bloody. 
* Now I feel better,' he said ; and he sat up, took 
his bow and shot an arrow straight into the air. 
Then he told his old lady to make ready and 
come with him, but not to be afraid. They went 
to Great Lake; he told her again not to be 
scared, took off all his clothes, and slipped into 
the lake in the shape of a great eel. Presently 
the water was troubled and muddy, and a huge 
snake appeared. The two fought long and 
hard ; but at last the old lady saw her husband 
standing before her again, smeared with slime 
from head to foot. He ordered her to pour 
fresh water on him, and wash him clean, for now 
he had conquered all his enemies. From that 
day forth they had great good luck in every- 
thing. This was in his youth, before he became 
governor of the Indians of Maine. 

" One time in midwinter his wife had a terrible 
longing for green corn, and she told him. He 
went to the fireplace, rolled up some strips of 



OLD GOVERNOR JOHN 83 

bark, laid them in the ashes, and began to sing 
a low song. After a while he told her to go and 
get her corn, and there lay the ears all nicely 
roasted. He used to make quarters, too. He 
would cut little round bits of paper, put them 
to his mouth, breathe on them, then lay them 
down and cover them with his hand. By and 
by he would lift his hand with a silver quarter 
in it." I remarked that he ought to have been 
a rich man ; but Louisa said, " Oh, he did n't 
make many, just a few now and then. When 
he was out hunting in the woods with a party 
and the tobacco gave out, they would see him 
fussing round after they went to bed, and then 
he would hand out a big cake of tobacco." 

Louisa said several times, as if she thought me 
incredulous, ''This is a true story; the old lady 
told me about the corn herself, and she was the 
mother of my brother Joe Nicola's wife. She 
was a witch, too." 

I asked Louisa when and how the Indians 
learned to make baskets and she said they 
always knew. When Glus-kabe went away, 
he told the ash-tree and the birch that they 
must provide for his children; and so they 
always had, by furnishing the stuff for baskets 
and canoes. 



K'CHI GESS'N, THE NORTHWEST 
WIND 

When he was a baby he was stolen by ** Puk- 
jinsquess," ^ and taken to a far-off lonely country 
inhabited by invisible people. His first recol- 
lection was of lying under the '' k'chiquelsowe 
musikuk," or frog-bushes.^ 

He rose, and, seeing a path, followed it until 
he reached a wigwam. When he lifted the door, 
he saw no one, but heard a voice say : " Come 
in, ^nitap.'"3 

He went in, and the voice said : " If you will 
be friends with me, I will be friends with you, 
and help you in the future." 

He looked about him, but saw nothing but a 
little stone pipe. He picked it up, and put it in 

1 An evil witch, see Leland's " Algonquin Legends of 
New England." 

2 Willow saplings, covered with fungus growth, found 
about marsh}'- places where frogs live. 

^ Friend. 



k'chT gess'n, the northwest wind 85 

his bosom, saying : " This must be the one who 
spoke to me." 

Then he went out and followed the path 
still farther. He heard the cry of a baby, so 
he hid behind a tree. The sound came nearer. 
Soon he saw a hideous old woman with a baby 
on her back, which she was beating. This 
roused his temper, and he shot her with his bow 
and arrow. She proved to be Pukjinsquess, 
and the baby was his brother, whom she had 
stolen from his father, the great East Wind. 

He put the baby in his bosom, and kept on 
his way. The baby said to him : '' There is a 
camp ahead of us, but you must not go in, for 
the people are bad." 

To this he paid no heed ; and when he came 
to a large, well-built wigwam, he was eager to 
see who the bad folks were. He found a crack, 
and looking through it, he saw a good looking 
man, with cheeks as red as blood, who said : 
" Come in, friend." 

They talked and smoked for some time ; then 
the strange man, whose name was Suwessen, 
the Southwest Wind, said : *' Let us wash our- 
selves and paint our cheeks." They did so, and 
then kept on talking ; but every few moments the 



S6 IN INDIAN TENTS 

good-looking man would start up and say : 
'' Let us wash ourselves." ^ 

In the evening two beautiful girls (daughters 
of Southwest Wind) came in and began to 
make merry with them ; but this tired the North- 
west Wind, and he fell asleep. As soon as he 
was sound asleep, Siiwessen took a long pole 
and tossed him like a ball,^ saying : " Go where 
you came from." 

At this, the Wind woke and found himself at 
the same point from which he had started as a 
baby. Angry and discouraged, he felt in his 
bosom to see if the stone pipe and his brother 
were safe ; and finding them there, he threw 
them on a big rock, and killed both in his rage. 
Then he resumed his journey, but took a differ- 
ent course. He now travelled towards the east, 
where his father lived. 

As he crossed a hill, he saw a lake shining 
in the valley below. He turned towards it ; but 
before he reached it, he came to a much trav- 
elled path, which led him to a wigwam, on enter- 

^ The Southwest Wind usually brings warm rain, 
which brightens the face of Nature. 

2 The Southwest Wind blows hither and thither, very 
capriciously, like the tossing of a ball. 



K'CHl GESS'N, THE NORTHWEST WIND 8/ 

ing which he saw a very old woman. She cried : 
" Oh, my grandchild, you are in a very danger- 
ous place. I pity you, for few leave here alive. 
You had better be off. Across the lake lives 
your grandfather. If you can swim, you may 
escape ; but be sure, when you near the beach, 
to go backward and fill your tracks with sand." 

He did as she directed ; but as he approached 
the water, he heard a loud, strange sound, which 
came nearer and nearer. It was the great M'das- 
mus, the mystic dog, barking at him. 

He plunged into the water, thus causing 
M'dasmus to lose the trail and give up the chase. 

Northwest Wind went back to his grand- 
mother ; but she avoided him, saying : " You are 
very wicked ; only a few days ago, I heard news 
in the air, that you had killed your brother, also 
your friend, the Little Stone Pipe." 

Once more he plunged into the lake, and this 
time reached the farther shore in safety. There 
he found his grandfather, " M'Sartu," the East- 
ern Star. (The Indians believe this to be the 
slowest and clumsiest of all the stars.) 

The great M'Sartu welcomed him: ''My 
dear grandson, I see that you still Hve ; but you 
are very wicked. I hear in the air that you have 



88 IN INDIAN TENTS 

killed your brother, also your friend, the Little 
Stone Pipe. I also hear that you have lost your 
Bird ' Wabit ' and your Rabbit. But, my child, 
you are in a most perilous place. The great 
Beaver destroys anything and everything that 
comes this way. If you need help, cry aloud to 
me. Perhaps I can aid you." 

As soon as night came on, the water began to 
rise rapidly, compelling Northwest Wind to 
chmb into a tree. The Beaver soon found him 
out, and gnawed the tree with his sharp teeth. 
Northwest Wind thought his end was near, and 
called aloud : " Grandpa, come ! " 

M'Sartu answered : *' I 'm getting up." 

*' Come, Grandpa ! " 

** I am up now." 

*' Oh, Grandpa, do come ! " 

" I am putting on my coat." 

" Hurry, Grandpa ! " 

** I put my hands in the sleeves." 

By this time the tree was almost gnawed 
through, and the water was rising higher and 
higher. 

He called again : " Come, Grandpa, come ! " 

" I have just got my coat on." 

" Make haste, Grandpa ! " 



k'chi gess'n, the northwest wind 89 

** I will put on my hat." 

'' Hurry, Grandpa ! " 

" I have my hat on." 

" Make haste, Beaver has almost reached me ! " 

*' I am going to my door." 

" Faster, Grandpa ! " 

" Wait till I get my cane." 

*' Be quick. Grandpa ! " 

" I am raising my door." 

At this, daylight began to break, the water 
went down slowly, and the Beaver departed. 

The Wind's Grandfather had saved him. 

He hastened to the old man, who told him 
that close by there was a large settlement, whose 
chief was the Great " Culloo." ^ 

" It is he that stole your Rabbit and your 
Bird Wabit." 

Northwest Wind now turned his footsteps 

toward the west. He soon heard a chopping, 

and came where there were many men felling 

trees. He asked how far it was to their village, 

and they replied : " From sunrise till noon," 

meaning half a day's journey. 

1 A mythical bird whose wings are so large as to 
darken the sun when he flies between it and the earth. 
Indians believe that they must fall on their faces when 
he flies by, or be blind till sunset. 



90 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Then he met men with feathers on their heads, 
and he asked these where their village was, 
where they were going, and wha they were 
doing. 

One of them said : *' We are hunting game 
for our great chief, CuUoo." 

While he was talking with one of the men 
the rest went on, and Northwest Wind said : 
" You had better turn back with me, for I am 
going to visit your chief, CuUoo." 

*' How shall I disguise myself so that he may 
not know me? " 

" I will do that for you," said the Wind. He 
took him by the hair, and pulled out all the 
feathers. 

^* Now we can visit the chief" 

When they reached the village and were 
going into " Mali Moninkwesswol," Mistress 
Molly Woodchuck's hole, she shrieked aloud. 
By this the chief knew that she was visited by 
strangers, so he sent servants to learn who was 
there. They returned and said, "Two very 
handsome youths." 

At this, every young woman in the village 
went at once to see them, the chiefs daughters 
with the rest ; and these latter fell in love with 
the strangers and married them.. 



K'CHI GESS'N, the northwest WIND 91 

Northwest Wind said to his new friend : 
" When we go with our wives to their father's 
wigwam, they will put a Rabbit under your 
pillow, and under mine, a Bird ; then I will 
turn myself into a Raven. Do you seize the 
Rabbit, I will take the Bird. Throw your 
arms about my neck, and hold fast to me." 

They did as he planned, and he flew out 
through the smoke-hole, crying: " K'chi 
Jagawk." 

When he reached his grandfather, he found 
his wife there before him ; for she had turned 
herself to Lituswagan, or Thought, the swiftest 
of all travellers. 

The Eastern Star told Northwest Wind where 
he might find his father ; then he took out his 
tobacco to fill his pipe. 

" Oh, Grandpa, give me some of that." 

" No, my dear, I have had this ever since I 
was young, and I have but a small bit left." 

'' Well, Grandpa, tell me where I may go 
to find it." 

** You cannot get it," said M'Sartu. *' Away 
off on that high point where no trees grow, there 
is a smooth rock. On that rock you will see 
my footprints. Thence you will see a man 



92 IN INDIAN TENTS 

looking about him all the time. He guards 
the spot so faithfully that none may pluck a 
leaf" 

Northwest Wind at once set out in search 
of the tobacco. He found his grandfather's 
tracks on the rock, and, gazing eastward, he saw 
a man looking in every direction. This was a 
powerful Witch, who had never been conquered. 

Every time the Witch turned his back, the 
Wind crept a little nearer, until he was within a 
few feet of his enemy. When the Witch turned 
and found the Wind close behind him, he asked, 
in a voice so terrible that it cracked the rocks, 
what he wanted there. 

" I want a piece of tobacco," said the Wind. 

The Witch gave him a pinch of dust. 

" I don't want that," said the Wind. '* Give 
me better." 

At this the Witch seized him, and tried to 
throw him over the cliff where there were piles 
of bones of his victims. As he threw him off, 
the Wind again became a Raven, sailed about 
in the air, until he got the tobacco leaves, then 
hastened back to his grandfather. 

The Eastern Star was so pleased that he 
called his old friend the Great Grasshopper to 



K CHI GESS N, THE NORTHWEST WIND 93 

come and share with him. " N jals," the Grass- 
hopper, had no pipe but he chewed tobacco.^ 

The Northwest Wind then set out to visit 
his father, the great East Wind, but found that 
he had been dead so long that the ground had 
sunk four feet, and the wigwam was all decayed. 
He called in a loud voice, summoning the 
Hearts of All the Trees to help him build a wig- 
wam fit for a mighty chief 

Instantly, thousands of tiny beings appeared, 
and in a short time a wigwam was built, made 
from the stripped trees, all shining. A tall pole 
was fastened to the top, with a large nest 
for his Bird and a basket at the bottom of the 
pole. Every time the Bird sang, the beautiful 
'' Wabap " ^ dropped from his beak into the 
basket. 

The great East Wind came to life again, and 
the Northwest Wind's son was nearly a year 
old. It was hard to get firewood to keep the 
old man and the child warm, for the snow was 
very deep and fell nearly every day; so the 

1 When Passamaquoddy Indians catch a grasshopper, 
they hold him in the palm of the hand and say, " Give 
me a chew of tobacco." The liquid that the insect spits 
looks like tobacco juice. 

^ Wampum. 



94 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Northwest Wind said to his father : " I am 
going to stop this ; I cannot stand it any longer. 
I will fight the great North Wind." 

He bade his wife prepare a year's supply of 
snowshoes and moccasins; when they were 
ready, he moved with his warriors, the Hearts 
of All the Trees, against the North Wind, whose 
army was made up of the Tops of the Trees. 

Snow fell throughout the battle, for K'taiuk 
(Cold), was the ally of the North Wind, and the 
carnage was fearful. 

At last the East Wind told his daughter-in- 
law to make moccasins and snowshoes for the 
child, and he gave the little one a partridge 
feather, a part of the tail. In an instant, the 
child received his magic power from his grand- 
father. The snow about the camp melted away, 
and the boy followed his father. As he shov- 
elled the snow with his feather, it melted. The 
little boy is the South Wind. 

When he reached his father, the father was 
buried in snow, which melted at the child's ap- 
proach. Thus the North Wind was conquered, 
and agreed, if they would spare his life, to make 
his visits less frequent and shorter. Now the 
North Wind only comes in winter. 



BIG BELLY 

There was once an old hunter called " Mawque- 
jess," who always carried a kettle to cook his 
" michwagan," food. When he killed an animal, 
he would build a wigwam on the spot, and stay 
there until the meat was all eaten. He always 
made it into soup, and called it, " M'Kessabum," 
my soup. He had eaten soup until his stomach 
was distended to a monstrous size. From this 
he took his name of Mawquejess, Big Belly. 

One day he saw a wig\vam, and went to the 
door to see who lived in it. He found a boy, 
who made friends with him and invited him in ; 
but the door was too small for his big stomach, 
and the boy was forced to remove the side of the 
wigwam to accommodate it. 

They were very happy together and Maw- 
quejess did nothing but care for the camp, while 
the boy did the hunting. At last Mawquejess 
told the boy to go to a certain place and kill a 
white bear. 



96 IN INDIAN TENTS 

His intention was, if he could get a white 
bear-skin, to marry a chief's daughter. The 
chief had offered her to any one who would kill 
a white bear and bring him the skin.^ 

The boy tried to kill the bear for Mawque- 
jess, but failed; and Mawquejess began to be 
discouraged ; then he thought : '' I will go 
myself" 

He found he was too big to get into the 
canoe. His legs dangled in the water so that 
he could not paddle, and he had to give it up. 
When the boy landed him, he made up his 
mind that the first time he could catch Maw- 
quejess asleep, his friend should be cut open and 
the soup allowed to escape. So he sharpened 
his stone axe and quickly cut his friend open ; a 
large stream of soup flowed out. Mawquejess 
awoke, crying: '' M'Kessabumisa ! " (Alas, my 
soup ! ) He went on crying and mourning until 
the boy said : " You had better stop crying and 
try to kill the white bear." 

Next day they started ; he got into the canoe 
quite easily, and they killed the white bear the 
first time of trying. 

" Now," said Mawquejess, "we will go to the 

1 The skin of a white bear is very powerful in magic. 



BIG BELLY. 9/ 

village, to the playground of the boys. When 
they come to play, I will try to kill the chiefs 
son [Sagmasis]." 

When they got there, the boys came to play 
as usual. Mawquejess, who was hiding behind 
a bush, struck the young chief and killed him at 
the first blow. 

The rest fled. Then he skinned the young 
chief, and put on the skin himself, thus appearing 
like a war chief. He called his little friend to 
follow with the bear-skin. Together they went 
to the great chief's wigwam, where the bear- 
skin was accepted, and, according to ancient 
custom, a big dance was given to celebrate the 
marriage. It lasted for many nights. 

" Pukjinsquess," the chief's wife, mistrusted 
her new son-in-law from the first, and called the 
attention of others to him. About this time the 
skin which he had put on began to decay ; and 
soon he stood revealed, no young chief, but 
Mawquejess himself. 

They began to kick and beat him. Maw- 
quejess called aloud to his little friend to help 
him ; but his little friend could not help him, for 
he was running for his life, crying : *' Let me 
always belong to the woods." 
7 



98 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Thus he was changed to a Partridge, and flew 
away ; and his pursuers were forced to give up 
the chase. 

Poor Mawquejess too cried out : *' Let me 
be a crow ; " and he was. He also flew away, 
saying : " Ca, ca, ca ! " (I fly away) ; and so both 
escaped 



CHIBALOCH, THE SPIRIT OF THE 
AIR 

This being has no body, but head, legs, heart, 
and wings. He has power in his shriek, '* was- 
quilamitt," to slay any who hear him. His claws 
are so huge and so strong that he can carry off 
a whole village at once. He is sometimes seen 
in the crotch of a tree, and often flies away with 
an Indian in his clutch. Some have become 
blind until sunset after seeing him. 

In his fights with witches and kiawakq*, he 
always comes off victorious. 

He never eats or drinks, but lives in a wigwam 
in mid-air. Once Wuchowsen, the great Wind 
Bird, went to visit him, saying : " I have always 
heard of you, but never had time to visit you; 
I have always been too busy." 

*' Well," said Chibaloch, " I am glad to see 
you, and like you very well. You are the first 
and only visitor I have ever had. I have but 
one fault to find with you. You move your 



100 IN INDIAN TENTS 

wings a little too fast for me. Sometimes my 
wigwam is almost blown to pieces. I have to 
fly off for fear it will fall, and I shall be killed." 

*' Well," said Wuchowsen, " the only thing for 
you to do, is to move away. You are rather too 
near me. You are the nearest neighbor that I 
have. If I should stop flapping my wings, my 
people would all die." 

" I cannot move," said Chibaloch ; ** that is 
the one thing that I cannot do. If you move 
your wings faster than I like, I will destroy you 
and all your people." 

" Ha, ha ! " said Wuchowsen, ** Glus-kab6will 
defend me and mine." 

** There you are mistaken ; for Glus-kabe dare 
not fight me, and he does not like your wings 
any too well himself He often says that he 
cannot go out in his canoe to kill wild fowl, 
because your wings go so fast. Did not Glus- 
kabe visit you once and throw you down? " 

" Yes, he did ; but he soon came back and set 
me up again," said the Wind Spirit. 



STORY OF TEAM, THE MOOSE 

There was once a young Indian, a very suc- 
cessful hunter. He always went off alone in 
the Fall, and came back in Spring loaded with 
fish and game. But once when he was off 
hunting, he began to feel lonely; and he said, 
** I wish I had a partner." When he went back 
to his wigwam that night, the fire was burning, 
supper cooked, and everything ready for him, 
though he saw no one. When he had eaten, he 
fell asleep, being very tired, and on waking next 
morning found all in order and breakfast pre- 
pared. This went on for some days. The 
seventh night, on his return, he saw a woman 
in the wigwam. She did not speak, but made 
all comfortable, and when the work was done 
made her bed at one side opposite his. This 
lasted all Winter ; she seldom or never spoke ; 
but when Spring came, and it was time for him 



102 IN INDIAN TENTS 

to return to his village, she said, " Remember 
me, always think of me, and do not marry 
another woman." When he got home loaded 
with skins and meat, his father had chosen a 
wife for him ; but he would have nothing to say 
to her. Next Fall he went back into the woods, 
and as he approached his wigwam, he saw smoke 
coming out of it, and when he entered, there 
sat the silent woman with a little boy at her 
side. She told him to shake hands with his 
father. Unlike most children, he was born 
large and strong enough to hunt with his father, 
and be of much help to him, so that they got a 
double quantity of game, and in the Spring the 
man went back to the village so rich that the Chief 
wanted him for a son-in-law ; but still he remem- 
bered his partner's words, "Do not forget me. 
Always think of me," and held firm. On his 
return to the woods he found a second son. 
Thus he succeeded in getting more game than 
ever, and, alas, on going home to his village, 
he forgot his woodland mate, and, yielding to 
the solicitations of the Chief, married his daugh- 
ter. In the Fall he took his wife, his father-in- 
law, and his own father to the woods with him, 
where this time they found not only the two 



STORY OF TEAM, THE MOOSE 103 

boys but a little girl. The new wife gazed 
angrily at the mother and children saying, 
'* You should have told me you had another 
wife." '' I have not," answered the man. At 
these words the mother of the children rose up, 
saying, '* I will leave my children with you ; but 
you must treat them well. Be kind to them, 
give them plenty to eat and to wear, for you have 
abundance of everything. Never abuse them," 
and she vanished. 

The boys and men went hunting every day, 
and the little girl was left with her stepmother, 
who beat her and made a drudge of her. She 
bore it patiently as long as she could, but at 
last complained to her brothers, who promised 
to help her. Next day the stepmother took hot 
ashes from the fire and burnt her in several 
places, so that she cried aloud. Her father came 
in and remonstrated, all in vain. Then he con- 
sulted the old grandfather, who expressed re- 
gret, but advised him to wait patiently, that 
the woman might become better in time. So 
the brothers and sister resolved to run away ; the 
boys slipped out first, and waited for the girl. 
When she, too, escaped, they fled ; but any one 
who looked from the hut would only have seen 



I04 IN INDIAN TENTS 

three young moose bounding over the snow. 
When the father came home, he asked for the 
children; his wife said they had just stepped 
out ; but when he went to look for them, he saw 
the moose tracks, and knew what had happened. 
He at once took his snowshoes and tomahawk, 
and started in pursuit of them. He travelled 
three days and three nights, always following 
the tracks. Every night, he saw where they had 
nibbled the bark from the trees and where they 
had rested in the snow. On the fourth day he 
came to a clearing where four moose were feed- 
ing, and he knew the children had found their 
mother. He struck his axe into a tree and 
hung his snowshoes on it, then went to her and 
pleaded to be allowed to go with them ; so she 
turned him into a moose, and they journeyed 
away together. Meantime, his old father at home 
missed his son and his grandchildren, and went 
to look for them. He travelled three days and 
three nights, as his son had done, following the 
foot-prints and the tracks until, towards the 
fourth night, he saw the tomahawk in the tree, 
with the snowshoes hanging on it, recognized 
them as his son's, saw that now there were the 
marks oifive moose in the snow instead of three, 



STORY OF TEAM, THE MOOSE IO5 

and knew that he had come too late. He took 
down the axe and snowshoes, and went sadly 
home to tell the story. 

These were the parents of all the moose that 
we see now. In old times the Indians used 
to turn into animals in this way. 



THE SNAKE AND THE PORCUPINE 

There were once two men who lived a long 
way apart : one was poor and had nothing but 
his hunting-grounds ; the other was rich, but he 
wanted the poor man's land. The poor man's 
poohegan, or attendant spirit, was a snake ; the 
rich man's poohegan was a porcupine. 

The Porcupine went to visit the Snake ; but 
at first the Snake refused to let him in, saying : 
'* I will stick my arrow into you." 

The Porcupine said : " Then I will stab you 
with my sword." 

The Snake said : *' My arrow has only one 
barb ; but it is a good one." And he ran out 
his tongue to show the barb. 

The Porcupine said : " My tail is full of 
swords ; but I will guard them very carefully 
if you will let me come in, for my home is 
far away." 

The Snake said : " I am here with my chil- 
dren, and am very poor. It is not for the rich 



THE SNAKE AND THE PORCUPINE 10/ 

to come to the poor for help ; but rather for the 
poor man to visit the rich. If one of my chil- 
dren were to go to your house, you would kill 
him. Then why do you come here? " 

However, the Porcupine promised so fairly 
that the Snake at last let him in. All went well 
at first; but in the morning the Porcupine be- 
gan to quarrel, killed the whole Snake family, 
and took possession of their land.^ 

1 The Indian who told this tale explained it as being 
the story of the white man and the red man. The 
white man is the Porcupine who came from afar with an 
army of swords. He promised fairly; he had every- 
thing; the Indian had only his arrows and his land. He 
thought it was wisest to say : " Take what you will." 
But the white man killed him, and took all his land. 



V 



WHY THE RABBIT'S NOSE IS SPLIT 

In old times the Red Headed Woodpecker once 
went to visit the Rabbit. He saw the Rabbit 
was very poor, and had nothing to eat, so he 
thought he would help him out. He took a 
green withe, tied it round his waist, and said : 
"Now I will catch some eels." 

He went to the side of a rotten tree, and 
pick, pick; Rabbit saw him pull out eel after 
eel,^ and string them on a stick. When the 
stick was full, he brought them to camp and 
cooked them. When they were cooked, he 
and Rabbit ate supper, and felt happy. Then 
the Woodpecker took his leave, inviting Rabbit 
to return the visit soon. 

In about three weeks Rabbit thought it was 
time he should accept this invitation, so he 
went to see Woodpecker. When he got there 
he said : " My turn now to get supper ; " for he 

^ Wood worms. 



WHY THE rabbit's NOSE IS SPLIT IO9 

thought he could catch eels just as Wood- 
pecker did. 

He tied a withe about him, went to a tree, 
and pick, pick, pick, harder, then so hard that 
his nose was flattened and his hp spHt ; but he 
caught no eels. 

Old man Turtle was visiting Woodpecker at 
this same time. He took pity on Rabbit, tied 
the withe round his own body, and dived down 
into the lake, coming up with a back-load 
of eels. 

Rabbit thought : " Well, I can do that. Tur- 
tle is a very good old fellow, I guess I will ask 
him to come over to see me." So he said: 
'' Come to see me where I live." 

Old man Turtle went to see Rabbit ; but he is 
such a slow traveller, that when Rabbit saw him 
coming, he thought, " I shall have plenty of 
time to get the eels ready," so he tied the withe 
round him, and jumped into the water, but 
every time he jumped, he bounced right back. 
He could not dive at all. 

Turtle saw him, went to the lake. Rabbit 
said : " I have tried and tried ; but I can't get 
eels. I guess there are none here." 

The Turtle knew what the trouble was ; but 



no IN INDIAN TENTS 

he only said : ** Let me have the withe ; " and in 
no time he brought up a back-load. They 
went home and cooked them ; and Rabbit liked 
Turtle so well that they were good friends 
forever after.^ 

1 This version of " The Fox and the Crane " shows 
how the Indian changed the fables of ^^sop and La Fon- 
taine, told him by French missionaries, to suit his own 
native surroundings. 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 

When great Gluskap, lord of men and beasts, 
had brought order out of the chaos in which 
the world was at the beginning, he called to- 
gether the animals and assigned to each the 
position he should hold in the future. To some 
he gave the water, to others the land, and to 
others wings to fly through the air. Over each 
tribe he appointed a leader called K'chi, the 
Great One. These could command help or 
power from others called their poohegans. 

In some animals Gluskap found a fierceness, 
which, when combined with size and strength, 
would make them dangerous for Indians to 
encounter. To this class belonged Miko, the 
Squirrel, — at that time as large as a wolf 

Therefore Gluskap stroked him on the back 
until he became the size that he now is. 

This humbled the proud Miko, who had been 
so vain of his appearance, and so boastful of his 



112 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Strength, that he would scratch down the trees, 
which happened to be in his way. 

But, as a compensation, Gluskap told him 
that he could now climb higher and travel 
faster than before, besides which he could at 
times have wings to suit the situation. 

Miko was comforted, and concluded to travel 
and become acquainted with the world of 
Nature. 

** K'chi Megusawess," the Martin, taught him 
the language of other animals, to enable him to 
keep out of danger, and Muinsq', Mistress 
Bear, Gliiskap's adopted grandmother, gave 
him the Law, with much good advice; for all 
Bears are wise, and she was wisest of them all. 
She said : — 

" You must never speak in praise of yourself, 
but pay attention to all that is said to you. 

" Always control your temper ; and, when en- 
raged, say, chim, chiniy cJiim} over and over, as 
fast as you can, until your anger is over. 

** The Law is : ' Mind your own business.' 

" Do this and you will be wise and wealthy." 

1 Old Mali Dana, the Passamaquoddy squaw, when 
asked to explain these words, replied : " That what 
Squirrel say when he get frightened or cross." 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL II3 

Miko then started out on his travels, but had 
not gone far when he remembered a bird named 
'' Laffy Latwin," ^ whose home in a tall birch- 
tree was his especial envy. 

He said to himself: '' Now is my chance to 
try the wings of ' Set-cato,' the Flying Squirrel," 
and at once he half climbed, half flew, up the 
tree, where he found Lafify Latwin still at 
home. 

Laffy Latwin was always good-natured ; and 
all the little birds as well as insects visited his 
abode. The little worms too would crawl up the 
birch-tree to see their friend. He sang the 
vesper song every night, as a signal to them all 
to go to sleep. When he sings : 

" Woffy 2 Latwin, Laffy Latwin, wickiutuwit," 

he shuts his eyes for the night ; and all the little 
birds are silent until his voice is again heard 
in the morning, when all awake, for they know 
that another day has dawned. 

When Miko, who now styled himself Set-cato, 
reached the home of Laffy Latwin, he said : — 

^ This bird seems to be the robin. 

2 This appears to have no meaning, but to be only an 
attempt on the part of the Indian story-teller to imitate 
the notes of the bird. 



114 IN INDIAN TENTS 

" How long have you lived in this tree? '* 

" Ever since your great grandfather, * K'chi 
Musos/ was born in that hollow cedar-tree 
which you just left," replied Laffy Latwin. 

" How long do you mean to stay here? " 

" As long as this tree lasts. When this one 
is gone, I will move to another," replied Laffy 
Latwin. 

But Miko, or Set-cato, as we must now call 
him, had never before been so high above the 
ground ; and though the home of Laffy Latwin 
was cold and damp, he was greatly pleased with 
the situation, and wished to build a house for 
himself in the very same hole, so he said : 

" My friend, you have lived here long enough. 
You had better move out, and let me move in." 

Laffy Latwin was troubled, yet he answered 
in his usual good-natured way : — 

"M'Quensis [my grandchild], I cannot go. 
If I were to move away, all my friends would 
miss me. They could not hear my song as well 
from any other tree. Besides, you are young, 
and are nimbler than I ; you can build your 
house almost anywhere." 

This opposition only made Set-cato more 
desirous of carrying out his purpose. The old 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL II5 

spirit of dominion was aroused within him, and 
though his great strength was gone, his teeth 
were unchanged. He at once began to gnaw off 
the limb on which Laffy Latwin's house stood. 

On a neighboring tree lived a tribe of " Am- 
wessok," or Hornets, all warriors, male and fe- 
male alike. They were always in training ; and 
their glittering armor, with its yellow stripes, 
shone in the sunlight Hke tiny sparks, as they 
flew among the leaves. 

They had been watching the movements of 
Set-cato all the morning, and when they saw 
that he meant mischief, the whole tribe, .as one 
man, darted from their tree, alighting on his 
back, and stinging him until he fell to the 
ground almost dead. 

The news soon spread throughout the Squir- 
rel tribe ; the flying, the gray, the striped, and 
the red squirrels hastened to his rescue. They 
held a council, and resolved that Laffy Latwin 
must be removed, even if they had to kill him. 

They all marched to the foot of the birch- 
tree, but found that the only way to reach him 
was from the trunk of the tree. Meantime the 
Hornets had summoned their friends, the Black 
Flies, the Midges, and Mosquitoes. 



Il6 IN INDIAN TENTS 

When the chief of the Squirrels gave orders 
for the battle to begin, his followers made a 
rush for the tree, but only a few could go up at 
once; and the Bees, Flies, and Midges would 
strike them with sharp spears, forcing the 
Squirrels to retreat before they were half-way 
up. 

Thus the battle went on until sunset. Up 
to this time, Laffy Latwin had been absolutely 
silent; he knew his situation, and saw all that 
was going on; but he had faith that his little 
warriors would defend him, so he sang his even- 
ing song as usual : — 

" Woffy Latwin, Laffy Latwin, wickiutuwit." 

Instantly both armies obeyed the call, and went 
to their respective wigwams to rest for the night. 

Next day, the leaders decided to fight again. 
The Squirrel chief said to his men: *' We must 
be more cautious and less fierce. If we can 
only touch Laffy Latwin before he sings * Woffy 
Latwin,' we shall win ; but if we fail to reach him 
before then, we may as well yield." 

Both armies fought more desperately than 
ever. The Flies had to sharpen their spears, 
and many were killed on both sides; yet the 
battle went on all that day. 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 11/ 

The Squirrels found it impossible to reach the 
home of Laffy Latwin, and when the evening 
song : — 

" Woffy Latwin, Laffy Latwin, wicklootoowit," 

was again heard, they agreed to retire and leave 
him forever in peace. 

Miko now had time for reflection ; and remem- 
bered that he had already broken the Law, as 
given him by Muinsq', the old Law Maker. This 
was a bad beginning for getting wealthy and wise. 

When his wounds were healed, he once more 
set out on his travels, hoping to gain from the 
experiences he had had as Set-cato. 

He met many of his tribe, hard at work, and 
content with their changed condition ; but he 
could not rest until he reached the Witch 
Mountain, the home of Mawquejess, the Great 
Eater, of whom Muinsq' had told him. On 
reaching it, he noticed a number of narrow 
paths, trodden by many feet ; yet seeing no one, 
and night coming on, he crawled into a hollow 
cedar which stood near a large rock, and soon 
fell asleep. 

He was awakened by a loud purring; and he 
knew that " Alnuset," the Black Cat, must be 



Il8 IN INDIAN TENTS 

camping close by. At first Miko was fright- 
ened ; but his fear soon turned to wonder what 
could bring Alnuset, so near to the home of his 
greatest enemy ; for though Chi-gau-gawk, the 
Great Crow, steals the game from Black Cat's 
*' ketignul," or wooden dead-fall trap, yet Maw- 
quejess is worse, for he watches until the wig- 
wam is empty, then enters and eats all he can 
find, for his appetite is never satisfied. 

Miko's curiosity was aroused ; and, the morn- 
ing being cloudy, and his lodgings very comfort- 
able, he decided to stay where he was and watch 
the course of events. 

Soon he saw that Alnuset had a friend with 
him, '* Matigwess," the Rabbit, a hunter of the 
same metal ; and he heard Black Cat say : 

" This will be a good day for hunting. 
Stormy days are best for such work." 

Matigwess replied : " I will set the trap. You 
can go up the mountain and hunt for big game." 

Miko thought to himself: " I can see them 
from here, no matter where they go. It is 
growing too cold to venture out." He watched 
their movements, and saw that they must be 
very hungry, and game scarce. 

At last Alnuset came across a big Bear, at 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 1 19 

which he aimed ; but the Frost had got into his 
bow, it snapped and broke as he bent it. 

The Bear was too big for him to attack with 
his tomahawk, so he returned discouraged to 
the Big Rock. 

This Rock resembled a human face, and the 
moss which grew on the top looked like long 
hair, so Miko was not surprised to hear Alnuset 
address it as : " Mus mi," my grandfather. 

" Mus mi, if you have any pity for your 
grandchildren, sing one of your magic songs to 
call the animals together." 

At this the stony old man began to sing, and 
Birds, Moose, Deer, and Bear, as well as friend 
Matigwess, came hurrying to hear the song. 

Now Matigwess is unlike Alnuset in that he 
carries two bows and three sets of arrows ; and 
he at once began his deadly work, killing Moose, 
Deer, and Bear on every hand, Alnuset drag- 
ging them to his camp as quickly as he could. 

The hungry and mischievous Mawquejess was 
watching him, and when Alnuset went for a 
fresh load, he would rush in and eat until he 
was over-full. 

Miko, from his hole in the tree, saw this thief 
at work; but he dared say nothing, and there 



120 IN INDIAN TENTS 

were so many dead animals piled together that 
he thought the two hunters would never miss 
what Mawquejess ate. 

But Mawquejess could not be content to let 
well enough alone. He went up to the Rock 
in his turn, and, imitating the voice of Alnuset, 
said : — 

" Mus mi, if you feel a spark of pity for your 
children, you will sing a song and call your 
animals together." 

So the old man again broke into song, and all 
the animals that lay dead, slain by Matigwess, 
came to life and stood around the Rock, now 
listening to his weird song. When the song 
ceased, each went his way once more. 

When Alnuset and Matigwess reached the 
wigwam, they found all their game gone, and 
saw nothing but tracks and prints of large moc- 
casins. By this they knew that this was one of 
the tricks of Mawquejess. 

They were disgusted and depressed ; but they 
cooked and ate what bones and bits were left 
from the previous day. Night coming on, they 
did not hear the songs of the goblins as usual, 
nothing but the howl of wolves following the 
bloody tracks. 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 121 

Next morning Matigwess, who was the more 
powerful In magic of the two, said to Alnuset : 
" I had a dream last night, and our Grandfather 
of the Mountain^ told me that Mawquejess had 
tricked him into singing, and also said : * Maw- 
quejess will visit your camp to-day while you are 
away ! ' " 

** Very well," said Alnuset, ** then he will not 
go away. We will fight, and kill him if we can." 

" No, do you go down the river and look to 
the trap," said Matigwess. " If there should be 
any danger, you will hear from me." 

So Alnuset set out at once ; and Matigwess 
cut down a hollow tree, the very one in which 
Miko lay, and placed it on the fire for a back- 
log. He then put out the fire, so that there 
should be no smoke from the wigwam, and it 
might seem deserted. He also set a snare for 
Mawquejess, by bending down two large tree 
forks and fastening them in place with a twisted 
birch withe. 

This done, he crawled into the hollow log to 
await the coming of Mawquejess. Poor Miko, 
meantime, had taken refuge under some old 
roots. 

1 K'musamis'n. 



122 IN INDIAN TENTS 

They had not long to wait for Mawquejess, 
who was soon heard stealing cautiously along, 
examining everything suspiciously. He spied 
Miko, and asked him where the two hunters 
were ; but Miko replied : " I saw them early 
this morning going towards the mountain." 

He did not add, as he might truthfully have 
done : *' One of them came back, hoping to 
catch you." 

Mawquejess directed Miko to keep watch, and 
warn him if he saw them returning. He then 
put his head into the wigwam, saw that the fire 
had gone out, and that there was only some 
dried meat hanging on poles ; but this gave him 
courage to enter, for his appetite was keen this 
cold morning. 

He found that his body was too big to go 
through the small door of the wigwam, so he 
took the hatchet which he always carries and 
began to chop a larger entrance. In cutting 
away the sticks, he cut the withes that fastened 
the snare, thus making it useless. 

This alarmed Matigwess, who had hoped to 
see him caught in the snare, and then kill him 
with his bow and arrow. 

After working for several hours, Mawquejess 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 1 23 

got into the wigwam, seized the fattest piece of 
venison, and making a fire, began to cook it. 

Matigwess in the hollow log could bear the 
heat no longer. When his long tail began to 
scorch, he sprang out. Mawquejess caught him 
him by the tail, and strove to hold him in the 
fire ; but the tail broke off close to the body,^ and 
Matigwess escaped. 

He found Miko, and sent him to tell Alnuset 

that Mawquejess was in the wigwam devouring 

everything. He was nearly maddened by the 

loss of his dear tail, and he sang a magic song 

with great energy : — 

" Bern yak, bem yak, bem yak — bes'm etch kimek ipp 
Sanetch." 2 

This song caused a sudden snow squall, and 
the woods were filled with the flakes. Each 
flake concealed a tiny Rabbit, to whom their 
chief cried out : — 

** Yoat elguen " (Come this way). 

All the snowflakes came toward Matigwess, 
and by the time Alnuset reached the wigwam, 

i Rabbits ever since have had short tails. 

2 These words are in an ancient tongue whose mean- 
ing is now known to none of the Indians, the words only 
being retained. 



124 IN INDIAN TENTS 

the little Rabbits were stabbing and choking 
Mawquejess, who began to beg for his Hfe, when 
he felt them cut off his feet. 

The Rabbit chief said : " Yes, he is harmless 
now; we will spare his Hfe," and turning to Al- 
nuset, he asked what should be done with him. 

Alnuset advised them to bind him with strong 
withes, and tie him to the corner of the wigwam, 
adding, loud enough for Mawquejess to hear : 

" He will make good bait for our traps when 
we need to use him ; " and Alnuset purred, with 
long purrs, and swinging his tail from side to 
side, looked out of the corners of his eyes, ex- 
pecting the others to enjoy what he thought a 
very good joke ; but Matigwess, with the loss of 
his tail, was in no humor for joking. 

He sang his song for the snowflakes to dis- 
appear, and the snow at once ceased to fall. 

The game had all been frightened away, and 
nothing was to be heard but the howl of wolves. 

Matigwess was very hungry, and the young 
tender leaf shoots, offered by Miko from his 
storehouse, did not satisfy him. 

The weather had grown very cold ; all the 
brooks were frozen over, and as the Beaver, 
Muskrat, and other water animals could not 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 1 25 

come out to feed, their traps were useless, 
therefore Alnuset's joke fell short of the mark. 

Miko did not care for meat himself; but he 
suggested to the friends : " You might kill 
Mawquejess and catch a Wolf, with his carcass 
for bait." 

Matigwess raised his tomahawk to strike ; but 
Mawquejess cried out : — 

*' Don't kill me ! Take me to the lake, and 
cut six big holes in the ice. I may help you 
yet." 

His enemies thought that he might be a good 
fisherman ; and as they knew nothing about such 
work, they decided to try his plan. 

They put him on a toboggan, hauled him to 
the lake, and cut the six holes, as he ordered. 
Then Mawquejess began to whistle and call. 
Foam and bubbles could be seen throug-h the 
holes in the ice, and soon Kiunik, the Otters, 
poked out their heads, holding fish in their 
mouths. 

Alnuset and Matigwess now thought better 
of their foe, and when they had enough fish, 
they loaded the toboggan and hauled it back to 
the wigwam, with Mawquejess on top. They all 
spent a very happy evening together, and became 



126 IN INDIAN TENTS 

good friends, although Matigwess could never 
again have a long tail. When the weather grew 
warmer, Miko grew tired of hearing them tell 
of their hair-breadth adventures, and escapes 
from witches and gobhns. 

He left them, congratulating himself that this 
time he had broken no law, quite forgetting that 
he had failed to *' mind his own business" and 
had incurred the ill-will of Mawquejess. 

The trees were putting forth buds, the young 
roots of the seedlings were sweet and tender, 
and Miko, having laid off his heaviest fur coat, 
looked often in little pools of water left by the 
spring rains. 

He never felt better in his life ; and when he 
came upon a council held by m'teulins, or 
animals having magic powers, he entered the 
circle unnoticed, feeling himself the equal of any 
of them. 

The council had met to consider how they 
might destroy " K'chi Molsom," the Great Wolf, 
who lived with the Great Bat, '' K'chi Medsk'- 
weges," on a large island which none dared 
visit for fear of the Great Wolf. Miko remem- 
bered the Wolf as an old enemy, and hoped to 
see him slain. He chattered approval to all that 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 12/ 

was said. On one occasion, all the witches met 
in council to see what they could do to conquer 
the Wolf; how they might contrive to kill him. 

K'chi Quenocktsh, the Big Turtle, made the 
first speech. Said he : " The only way we can 
kill K'chi Molsom is to dig a passage under the 
water to the island, then dig a big hole right 
under his wigwam, fill the hole with sharp 
sticks and stones ; then we will dig out the rest 
of the ground. The wigwam will fall, and the 
Great Wolf will be dashed in pieces on the 
sticks and stones." 

The witches thought this idea a good one, 
but felt that the Wolf had such power that who- 
ever stepped upon the island would perish. 

K'chi Atosis, the Great Snake, spoke next: 
" My opinion," said he, " is that all the witches 
who can fly should go there some dark night, 
fly down the smokehole, bind him with strong 
withes before he can fight, and bring him out 
where all may enjoy seeing him put to death." 

Next spoke the Alligator : " The only way to 
kill the Great Wolf is to lie in wait for him on 
the other island. When he is hungry, he will 
go there to catch seals; and we will send our 
best warriors and capture him alive." 



128 IN INDIAN TENTS 

Now the Wolf knew that they had evil designs 
upon him, and sent the Bat to watch, and to 
listen to what they had to say, and so was pre- 
pared for them. 

The chief of the witches, a hairless bear, 
then said : *' I have listened to all your plans, 
and think all good ; but the first one suits me 
best. We will get ' K'chi Pa-pa-ka-qua-ha,' the 
Great Woodpecker, and Moskwe, the Wood 
Worm, to do the work." 

So all the woodpeckers and all the worms 
set to work to dig the passage. 

The Great Wolf knew all that was going on, 
and sent the Bat every night to see what prog- 
ress they made. 

He ordered his troops, the Ants, to prepare 
flint and punk, Chu-ga-ga-siq', — yellow rotten 
wood found in hollow trees.^ 

The Ants went to work and filled the wigwam 
with punk, the Bat, meantime, going every few 
moments to watch the enemy's progress. At 
last he said that they had landed on the island. 

The Wolf ordered everything to be removed 
from the wigwam, — his bows, arrows, stone axes, 

1 The Indians formerly used this with flint to light their 
fires. 



STORY OF THE SQUIRREL 1 29 

Spears, pipes, and the paddles of his great stone 
canoe, — then he took the flint and set fire to 
the punk inside the wigwam. 

The Ants had also filled the mouth of the 
passage on the mainland with punk, so that all 
the witches who went to see the killing of K'chi 
Molsom might not escape but perish. 

When all was ready. Woodpecker gave the 
signal, and the wigwam fell into the hole, to be 
sure ; but the blaze soon filled the passage and 
all their hiding-places with fire and smoke. 

The witches, vainly hoping to escape, ran to 
the mouth of the passage on the mainland, but 
found it also stopped with fire ; and they were all 
burned to death.^ 

K'chi Molsom took all his men and his goods 
in his stone canoe, and went to the next island, 
where they built a strong wigwam and thence- 
forth lived, more powerful and more to be 
dreaded than before, fighting many battles with 
the spirits of the water. 

^ Miko had made good his escape before the fire got to 
burning well ; but his beautiful silky coat of brown fur was 
scorched red by the heat, and has remained so ever since. 



wawbAban, the northern lights 

There once lived an old chief, called " M'Surtu," 
or the Morning Star. He had an only son, so 
unlike all the other boys of the tribe as to dis- 
tress the old chief. He would not stay with the 
others or play with them, but, taking his bow 
and arrows, would leave home, going towards 
the north, and stay away many days at a time. 

When he came home, his relations would ask 
him where he had been ; but he made no answer. 

At last the old chief said to his wife : *' The 
boy must be watched. I will follow him." 

So Morning Star kept in the boy's trail, and 
travelled for a long time. Suddenly his eyes 
closed, and he could not hear. He had a strange 
sensation, and then knew nothing until his eyes 
opened in an unknown and brightly lighted 
land. There were neither sun, moon, nor stars ; 
but the land was illumined by a singular light. 



WAWBABAN, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 131 

He saw human beings very unlike his own 
people. They gathered about him, and tried to 
talk with him ; but he could not understand their 
language. He knew not where to go nor what 
to do. He was well treated by this marvellous 
tribe of Indians ; he watched their games, and 
was attracted by a wonderful game of ball which 
seemed to change the light to all the colors of 
the rainbow, — colors which he had never seen 
before. The players all seemed to have lights 
on their heads, and they wore curious girdles, 
called " Memquon," or Rainbow belts. 

After a few days, an old man came to him, and 
spoke to him in his own tongue, asking if he 
knew where he was. He answered: *' No." 

The old man then said : " You are in the 
land of Northern Lights. I came here many 
years ago. I was the only one here from the 
' Lower Country,' as we call it ; but now there 
is a boy who visits us every few days." 

At this, the chief inquired how the old man 
got there, what way he came. 

The old man said: "I followed the path 
called ' Ketaguswot,' or ' the Spirits' Path ' 
(the Milky Way)." 

'' That must be the same path I took," said 



132 IX IXDLVN- TEXTS 

the chief. "Did you have a strange feeling, 
as if you had lost all knowledge, while you 
travelled?" 

"Yes," said the old man; *' I could not see 
nor hear." 

" Then you did come by the same path. Can 
you tell me how I may return home again? " 

The old man said : " The Chief of the North- 
em Lights vrill send vou home, friend." 

" Well, can you tell me where or when I may 
see my son? The boy who visits you is mine." 

The old man said: "You will see him play- 
ing ball, if you watch." 

Morning Star was ver\' glad to hear this, and 
a few moments later, a man went around to the 
wigwams, teUing all to go and have a game of 
ball. 

The old chief went with the rest; when the 
game began, he saw many most beautiful colors 
on the playground. The old man asked him if 
he saw his son among the players, and he said 
that he did. "The one with the brightest light 
on his head is my son." 

Then they went to the Chief of the Northern 
Lights, and the old man said : " The Chief of the 
Lower Country wishes to go home, and he also 
wants his son," 



WAWBABAy, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 1 33 

The chief asked him to stav a fe-.v davs loncrer • 
but he longed to go home, so the Chief of the 
Northern Lights called together his tribe to 
take leave of M'Surtu and his son, and ordered 
two great birds to carr>' them home. As they 
travelled over the :\rilky Way. :vIorning Star had 
the same strange sensation as before, and when 
he came to his senses, he found himself at his 
own door. His wife rejoiced to see him; for 
when the boy had told her that his father was 
safe, she had not heeded him, but feared that 
he was lost. 



THE WOOD WORM'S STORY, SHOWING 
WHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE 
BLACK 

Long years ago, in a hollow tree dwelt Mosique, 
the Wood Worm. Mosique is a clever builder, 
and he builds wigwams for many of his neigh- 
bors. Moreover, he is a very proud old man, 
so that he was anything but pleased when 
'' Huhuss," the Hen Hawk, came to visit him, 
saying: "Let me in, Musmi [my grandfather]. 
I have a little bird here for you." 

Now Mosique hated the Hawk, because only 
a short time before he had killed one of his best 
friends, little " Getchki-ki-lassis," the Chicka- 
deedee, and now he came back to taunt Mosique 
with the fact. 

** Come, Musmi, let me in." 

Mosique is a skilful fighter when he is angry ; 
but the powerful Hawk never believed that that 
old worm could hurt anything. His house i 

opened just wide enough for Huhuss to put in 



THE WOOD WORMS STORY 1 35 

his head ; but it opened into a large room where 
he kept his tools of every kind. 

The Little Birds were glad to see the Hawk 
go to Mosique's house, for they trusted in the 
Worm's cunning. 

*' Come, Musmi, let me in. I want you to 
build me a good warm house. I will pay you 
well for it." 

"Yes," says Mosique, "I will build a house 
for my grandchildren in your old skull." 

The Hawk laughed at him, and spat on him. 

" You build a house in my skull, indeed," 
said he. "Well, let me see what you can do," 
and he poked his head a httle farther in. 

Mosique strapped his auger to the top of his 
pate, turned and twisted, and screwed himself 
around into Hawk's head. He soon penetrated 
his skull, and Huhuss shrieked aloud for help, 
but no help came. He flew up in agony; he 
flew so high that he almost reached the blue 
sky. All the birds, and all the animals, looked 
at him, but none knew what would become of 
him. 

Mosique kept twisting himself around, and 
soon reached the Hawk's brain. Of course, 
the Hawk could not endure this, and he fell 



136 IN INDIAN TENTS 

heavily to the ground, carrying Mosique with 
him. 

Then all the birds flocked together, and had a 
feast which lasted many days, singing songs, 
and dancing, and shaking hands with Mosique in 
token of their gratitude and joy. The Little Ants 
also came to attend this great feast; and after 
it was over, Mosique made a long speech, 
bidding them : " Tell all the Hawks, his 
brothers, his sisters, his sons, and his daughters, 
to insult me no more. If they do, they must 
share the same fate as their chief You see him 
now dead. I will give his skull to our neigh- 
bors, the ants, for their wigwam, and also a part 
of his old carcass for food." 

The ants ran hastily into Hawk's skull, and 
fed upon his brain. 

*' Now," added Mosique, " my dear Little 
Birds, you know I have lived in my wigwam 
for a long time. I have never troubled any one, 
and no one has troubled me. This is the first 
one who ever came to disturb me. Here he 
lies. Tell your leader, the great Woodpecker, 
my worst enemy ,^ what I say. I have never 
talked so much before in all my life; but 
^ Woodpeckers devour the wood worms. 



THE WOOD worm's STORY 1 37 

do you tell him that if he ever comes to try to 
destroy my wigwam, I will serve him the same 
as that Hawk. I do not wish to defy him my- 
self, but you can tell him for me." 

The Little Birds sewed leaves together, placed 
the Honorable Mosique on them, raised him 
high in air, and sang songs of rejoicing over 
him: — 

" K'mus'm S'n naha kisi nahahat o-usell ennit 
kilon wecki w'litt hassul tigiqu*," or '' our Grand- 
father Wood Worm has killed Huhuss. This is 
what makes us so happy." 

Then they flew up almost to the sky, came 
down again, left Mosique in his wigwam and 
presented him with a tiny Wisuwigesisl, or Little 
Yellow Bird, — one of their best singers, — to be 
his comrade and musician. 

Every morning she sings : " Etuch uHnagusk 
tike uspesswin ! " (Oh, what a lovely, bright 
morning ! Awake, all ye who sleep !) 

This delighted Mosique. 

Time passed, and the Raven fancied the looks 
of Mosique's Singer, with her bright yellow 
feathers shining like gold. He said : " There 
is but one way to get the beautiful Singer, and 
that is to kill Mosique. 



138 IN INDIAN TENTS 

** But that is well-nigh impossible. While he 
is in his wigwam, no living creature can destroy 
him. There is but one way to kill him ; but it 
is a sure way, I never knew it to fail. I have 
a piece of punk which my grandfather, the 
White Otter, gave me, that will do the work." 

So next morning, it being very windy, 
he went to the foot of the big tree where 
Mosique lived, put the punk close against the 
the tree, set it on fire, and it soon blazed up. 
Now this was sure death to Mosique. 

(Here part of the story seems to be missing, 
teUing how the Worm escaped this " sure death," 
but I have been unable to recover it, in spite of 
all my efforts. —A. L. A.) 

Mosique, in his rage, gathered together all the 
Little Birds, and told his sad story to them. 

" That White Bird," said he, " has not treated 
me right ; but I will have my revenge. I want 
you to take me where he lives." 

" We will take you to his wigwam, Grandpa," 

said the Little Birds. So they sewed the leaves 

together again,^ and placing Mosique on them, 

flew off with him. They soon reached the 

^ A worm, of course, could not fly. 



THE WOOD worm's STORY 139 

residence of Raven. Mosique had with him a 
lot of " tebequenignel," or Indian birch-bark 
torches. The Little Birds set him down 
within a few feet of the tall spruce-tree where 
the Raven lived. Now the Raven is an early 
riser, and goes to bed equally early ; so, as soon 
as it was dark, Mosique crawled up the tree, and 
soon came to Raven's door. He slipped in 
without being seen or heard, and bound Raven 
while he slept. Then he easily made his way 
down again, lighted his torches, and soon had 
the tree in flames. When the fire reached the 
Raven, he awaked and cried out : " Oh, Mosique, 
have pity on me, and untie me ! " but Mosique 
heeded him not. 

These bark torches always make a dense 
smoke, which soon blackened the Raven. As 
the flames drew nearer, the cords which bound 
the Raven were burned away, or snapped 
asunder, and he escaped uninjured. But his 
beauty was gone forever. Up to this time, he 
was a snow-white bird ; but ever since he has 
been as black as charcoal, down to this very 
day. 

THE END. 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers* Publications. 

FAR FROM TO-DAY. 

^ Folume of Stories. 

By GERTRUDE HALL, 
16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00. 



THESE stories are marked with originality and power. The titles 
are as follows : viz., Tristiane, The Sons of Philemon, Servirol, 
Sylvanus, Theodolind, Shepherds. 

Miss Hall has put together here a set of gracefully written tales, — tales of long 
ago. They have an old-world medieval feeling about them, soft with intervening 
distance, like the light upon some feudal castle wall, seen through the openings of 
the forest. A refined fancy and many an artistic touch has been spent upon the 
composition with good result. — London Bookseller. 

" Although these six stories are dreams of the misty past, their morals have a 
most direct bearing on the present. An author who has the soul to conceive such 
stories is worthy to rank among the highest. One of our best literary critics, Mrs. 
Louise Chandler Moulton, says : " I think it is a work of real genius, Homeric in 
its simplicity, and beautiful exceedingly.'" 

Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, in the Newburyport Herald: — 

" A volume giving evidence of surprising genius is a collection of six tales by 
Gertrude Hall, called ' Far from To-day.' I recall no stories at once so powerful and 
subtle as these. Their literary charm is complete, their range of learning is vast, and 
their hum.an interest is intense. * Tristiane,' the first one, is as brilliant and ingenious, 
to say the least, as the best chapter of Arthur Hardy's ' Passe Rose ; ' 'Sylvanus' 
tells a heart-breaking tale, full of wild delight in hills and winds and skies, full of 
pathos and poetry ; in ' The Sons of Philemon ' the Greek spirit is perfect, the 
story absolutely beautiful ; 'Theodolind,' again, repeats the Norse life to the echo, 
even to the very measure of the runes ; and 'The Shepherds' gives another reading 
to the meaning of 'The Statue and the Bust.' Portions of these stories are told 
with an almost archaic simplicity, while other portions mount on great wings of 
poetry, 'Far from To-day,' as the time of the stories is placed; the hearts that 
beat m them are the hearts of to-day, and each one of these stories breathes the joy 
and the sorrow of life, and is rich with the beauty of the world." 

From the London Academy, December 24th : — 

"The six stories in the dainty volume entitled ' Far from To-day* are of imagina- 
tion all compact. The American short tales, which have oi late attained a wide and 
deserved popularity in this country, have not been lacking in this vitalizing quality; 
but the art of Mrs. Slosson and Miss Wilkins is that of imaginative realism, while 
that of Miss Gertrude Hall is that of imaginarive romance; theirs is the work of 
impassioned observation, hers of impassioned invention. There is in her book a 
fine, delicate fantasy that reminds one of Hawthorne in his sweetest moods; and 
while Hawthorne had certain gifts which were all his own, the new writer ex- 
hibits a certain winning tenderness in which he was generally deficient In the 
domain of pure romance it is long since we have had anything so rich in simple 
beauty as is the work which is to be found between the covers of ' Far from 
To-day.' " 

Sold by all booksellers. Mailed^ fost-paid, on receipt of price., by the 
publishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 



^be Ike^notes Series* 

t6mo. Cloth* Price, $J.00» 



I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVI.II. 

XXIX. 



KEYNOTES. By George Egerton. 

THE DANCING FAUN. By Florence Farr. 

POOR FOLK. By Fedor Dostoievsky. Translated from the 
Russian by Lena Milman. With an Introduction by George 
Moore. 

A CHILD OF THE AGE. By Francis Adams. 

THE GREAT GOD PAN AND THE INMOST UGHT. By 

Arthur Machen. 

DISCORDS. By George Egerton. 

PRINCE ZALESKI. By M. P. Shiel. 

THE WOMAN WHO DID. By Grant Allen. 

WOMEN'S TRAGEDIES. By H. D. Lowry. 

GREY ROSES AND OTHER STORIES. By Henry Harland. 

AT THE FIRST CORNER AND OTHER STORIES. By JH. B. 

Marriott Watson. 

MONOCHROMES. By Ella D'Arcv. 

AT THE RELTON ARMS. By Evelyn Sharp. 

THE GIRL FROM THE FARM. By Gertrude Dix. 

THE MIRROR OF MUSIC. By Stanley V. Makower. 

YELLOW AND WHITE. By W. Carlton Dawe. 

THE MOUNTAIN LOVERS. By Fiona Macleod. 

THE WOMAN WHO DID NOT. By Victoria Crosse. 

THE THREE IMPOSTORS. By Arthur Machen. 

NOBODY'S FAULT. By Netta Syrett. 

PLATONIC AFFECTIONS. By John Smith. 

IN HOMESPUN. By E. Nesbit. 

NETS FOR THE WIND. By Una A. Taylor. 

WHERE THE ATLANTIC MEETS THE LAND, 



By Caldwell 
By Mabel E. 



Lipsett. 

DAY-BOOKS. Chronicles of Good and Evil. 
Wotton. 

IN SCARLET AND GREY. Stories of Soldiers and Others. Bv 
Florence Henniker ; with THE SPECTRE OF THE REAL, 

by Thomas Hardy and Florence Henniker (in collaboration). 

MARIS STELLA. By Marie Clothilde Balfour- 

UGLY IDOL. By Claud Nicholson. 

SHAPES IN THE FIRE. A Mid-Winter Entertainment. With 
an Interlude. By M. P. Shiel. 



Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed^ postpaid, on receipt of price, 
by the Publishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston, Mass. 
John Lane, The Bodley Head, Yigo Street, London, W. 




NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS^' FOLK LORE. 

By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE, 

Author of " Old Landmarks of ' Boston ' and * Middlesex^ " 
" Around the Huh^^ etc. 

One volume, 12mo, clotli, illustrated. Price, $2.00. 



THIS volume brings tocrether, for the first time, the scattered Legendary and Folk Lore- 
of New England. No subject is so thoroughly fascinating as this is, while very few 
indeed afford materials at once so rich, so varied, and so picturesque. It is confi- 
dently believed that every one who sees how fertile is the field the author's research has 
opened, will now wonder why such a work was not long ago undertaken. 

The collection, preservation, and effective presentation of the Legendary Tales of New 
England is then the purpose of this book; and that purpose presupposes a work of per- 
manent interest and value. 

For a work of this character no man is better qualified than Mr. Samuel Adams 
Drake, the author who has already a high reputation as a writer of History, Eiohraphy, 
and Travel, and who is thoroughly x home in any and every phase of Old New England 
Life. His "Old Landmarks of Boston," his " Nooks and Corners of the Nev/ England 
Coast," are unique works of their kind, to which his "New England Legends" will un- 
questionably be the appropriate companion and claimant for public favor. 

Having diligently searched out the origin of the Legendary Tales that compose this 
volume, Rlr. Drake's method has been to rewrite them in an entertaining manner for his 
readers of to-day ; and as some of these pieces have been the theme of poetry and romance, 
he has placed the prose and poetic versions side by side, in order that the thousands to 
whom "The Scarlet Letter," "The Buccaneer," or "The Skeleton in Armor •' are as 
familiar as household words, may have as ready access to the truth as hitherto they have 
had to the romance of history. 

In this way many of the poetical gems of such authors as Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, 
Dana, Lowell, Brainard, Sigourney, and others, are newly interpreted for the public, besides 
going to enrich the collection. Motley, Hawthorne, Sir Walter Scott, Austin, the Mathers, 
— whoever in fact may have drawn upon this subject for inspiration, — are quoted for its 
illustration. 

The popular superstitions of our ancestors, which included a firm belief in Witchcraft, 
in the Special Providences of God, and in the Manifestations of the Invisible WorM, — 
not to speak of Omens, Charms, and the like, — are an unfailing source of interest to our 
age. Mr. Drake shows us what those beliefs were, and in what way they worked for good 
or evil, as moral or physical agents, and so moulded the history of the times. Although 
they possess all the charm of romance, these stories are really the sober record of tbe start- 
ling or marvellous occurrences that they narrate. One cannot rise from a perui^al of this 
most fascinating book without saying, " I now know what kind of men and women the- 
founders of New England really were. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction ! " 



ROBERTS BROTHERS, 

5 Somerset Street, Boston, Mass, 



Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications. 



A STRANGE CAREER. 



LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
JOHN GLADWYN JEBB. 

BY HIS WIDOW. 

With an Introduction by H. Rider Haggard, and a per- 
trait of Mr. Jebb. i2mo, cloth. Price, $1.25. 



A remarkable romance of modern life. — Daily Chronicle. 

Exciting to a degree. — Black and White. 

Full of breathless interest. — Times. 

Reads like fiction. — Daily Graphic. 

Pages which will hold their readers fast to the very end. — Graphic. 

A better told and more marvellous narrative of a real life was never put 
tnto the covers of a small octavo volume. — To-Day. 

As fascinating as any romance. . . , The book is of the most entranc- 
ing interest. — St. Jameses Budget. 

Those who love stories of adventure will find a volume to their taste in 
the " Life and Adventures of John Gladwyn Jebb," just published, and to 
which an introduction is furnished by Rider Haggard. The latter says 
that rarely, if ever, in this nineteenth century, has a man lived so strange 
and varied an existence as did Mr. Jebb. From the time that he came to 
manhood he was a wanderer ; and how he survived the many perils of his 
daily life is certainly a mystery. . . . The strange and remarkable adven- 
tures of which we have an account in this volume were in Guatemala, Brazil, 
in our own far West with the Indians on the plains, in mining camps in 
Colorado and California, in Texas, in Cuba and Mexico, where occurred 
the search for Montezuma's, or rather Guatemoc's treasure, to which Mr. 
Haggard believes that Mr. Jebb held the key, but which through his death 
is now forever lost. The story is one of thrilling interest from beginning 
to end, the story of a born adventurer, unselfish, sanguine, romantic, of a 
man too mystical and poetic in his nature for this prosaic nineteenth cen- 
tury, but who, as a crusader or a knight errant, would have won distinguished 
success. The volume is a notable addition to the literature of adventure. 
— Boston Advertiser. 



Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed^ postpaid, by the pub- 
lishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 



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